Teresa Brasio-McLaughlin

Working Title of PhD: Men’s Mental Health After Prison: Everyday Experiences Of Mental Health In The Community Post-Imprisonment

Year commenced PhD study: 2021

Institution/Organisation: University of Glasgow

Funding Source (if any): CoSS PhD Scholarship

Full or part-time: Full-Time

PhD Supervisors: Dr Marguerite Schinkel, Dr Caitlin Gormley and Professor Fergus McNeill

Synopsis of PhD:

The combination of high prison populations and a high prevalence of mental health issues within such populations entails the likelihood that mental health issues are also likely to be widespread amongst the population of previously imprisoned people now living in the community. Therefore, the intersection of mental health and re-entry, particularly the release and reintegration into the community, seems likely to have wide implications and a far-reaching impact into people’s post-prison lives.

However, most research on mental health in criminal justice populations has been undertaken from a medical perspective with a focus on treatment, or from a practitioner perspective with a focus on service delivery and compliance. By contrast, using constructivist grounded theory methods and in-depth qualitative semi-structed interviews, this study explores how people experience mental health issues post-prison, how mental health and re-entry interact and how people manage these inter-related challenges. By conceptualising mental health issues in a way that moves beyond medical diagnoses or a service-focus, I suggest new ways to explore the relationships between mental health, release, re-entry, and reintegration with the ultimate aim of improving post-prison support offered and experiences of community living for those who have experienced imprisonment, re-entry, and mental health issues.