Posted on: 10 June 2025
It was great to spend time with Keith Bryant, Chief Executive Officer of the Open Dialogue Centre, who visited our mental health services in Westminster.
Keith visited the Community Mental Health Hub, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment team, as well as the Older Adults Mental Health team, all of whom are involved in CNWL’s Open Dialogue pilot - running for three years now.
Picture shows (from left to right): Nina Dawson, Sonia Skidmore, Dr Gareth Jarviss, Keith Bryant, Alison Wragg, Liam Hallett and Fiona Eastmond.
During the visit, Keith met with several members of the CNWL team who shared our journey so far - from training 200 staff in Westminster to the day-to-day realities of embedding the approach into practice. We had rich conversations about what it takes to implement change across services, the role of leadership and challenges of sustainability.
He talked about the success of Open Dialogue in Australia, including its impact in schools, youth homelessness services, and regional communities. “We’ve learnt a lot from the UK,” he said, with the centre especially interested in how different cultures connect with the model, as well as the opportunities for shared learning.
Feedback from those involved in Open Dialogue has been positive, and our next steps include building capacity to train others, gathering research evidence, and making the case for wider adoption.
Sonia Skidmore, an Open Dialogue Practitioner reminded us:
“This isn’t just a model – it’s a way of being.”
After the visit, Keith sat down with Dr Gareth Jarvis, Divisional Medical Director and Fiona Eastmond, Senior Peer Recovery Trainer, to record an episode for the OpenPOD podcast.
Listen to previous episodes here.