Charley Baker
Lecturer in Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
Contact
Biography
Charley Baker is a Lecturer in Mental Health at the University of Nottingham where she teaches mental health nursing students at both Diploma/BSc level and on the Graduate Entry Nursing programme.
Charley has previously held a 3 year Leverhulme Trust funded position as a Research Associate, examining representations of madness in post-war UK and US fiction. Charley is lead author on the co-authored monograph, Madness in Post-1945 British and American Fiction (Palgrave, 2010).She was invited contributor and literary advisor for a psychiatry textbook, Psychiatry PRN (Oxford University Press 2009), has had a chapter on rape in Angela Carter's fiction published by Rodopi in Ethics and Trauma in Contemporary British Fiction, and writes regularly for journals such as Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.
Charley is co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded international Madness and Literature Network (www.madnessandliterature.org).
She has a BA and MA in literature and is working on her PhD on psychosis and postmodernism at Royal Holloway, University of London. During her studies, Charley worked in both community adult and inpatient adolescent mental health for the NHS.
Charley has been awarded the title of Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health. She also serves on the Editorial Board for Journal of Medical Humanities and Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.
She has spoken and taught extensively on issues of representations of mental illness in literature, and also has research interests in:
- Representation of madness and mental health problems in 20th century fiction and autobiography
- Bibliotherapy - reading and wellbeing
- Self Harm and Suicide
- The history of borderline personality disorder as a diagnosis
- Using literature and humanities in clinical education
- 20th Century Literature and literary theory, particularly the theories of Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Foucault.
Expertise Summary
Representations of mental health in fiction and autobiography
Self Harm
Teaching Summary
- Mental Health Nursing - Dip/Bsc Year 3, Derby Centre
- Lead for Non-Branch Mental Health Pathway, Derby Centre
- Sessional teaching on Self Harm for Adult Branch, Derby Centre, MNsci Mental Health and Dip/Bsc Mental Health at Nottingham
- Facilitator - Graduate Entry Nursing (GEN) course, Derby Centre
- Teaching on Self Harm and Risk, Module 5, GEN Mental Health Branch
- Supervisor - Clinical Supervision, GEN programme
Research Summary
Current research is in the representation of literary madness and clinical mental health problems in fiction and autobiography. I am also involved in research into the health benefits of reading (or… read more
Recent Publications
CHARLEY BAKER, 2011. “Nobody’s Meat” – Revisiting Rape and Sexual Trauma through Angela Carter. In: SUSANA ONEGA AND JEAN-MICHEL GANTEAU and , eds., Ethics and Trauma in British Fiction Since 1960 Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi. 61-83
PAUL CRAWFORD, CHARLEY BAKER and BRIAN BROWN, 2011. GUEST CO-EDITORS: Special Edition of Mental Health Review Journal ‘Health Humanities: Madness and Literature’: Editorial - Madness and Literature Mental Health Review. 16(3),
PAUL CRAWFORD, CHARLEY BAKER and BRIAN BROWN, 2011. GUEST CO-EDITORS: Madness and Literature: Papers from the 1st International Health Humanities Conference: Editorial - Mad Lit: Introduction to a Special Issue of Journal of Medical Humanities Journal of Medical Humanities. 32(4), 253-255
CHARLEY BAKER, PAUL CRAWFORD, BRIAN BROWN, MAURICE LIPSEDGE and RONALD CARTER, 2010. Madness in Post-1945 British and American Fiction Baisingstoke: Palgrave.
Current Research
Current research is in the representation of literary madness and clinical mental health problems in fiction and autobiography. I am also involved in research into the health benefits of reading (or bibliotherapy), the history of Borderline Personality Disorder, and into self harm and heavy metal music.
I am Co-Founder of the Madness and Literature Network (www.madnessandliterature.org). Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, I aided in the design of the website for this project and produced some of the website content, along with building the initial database of fiction and autobiography. I continue to manage the website - peer reviewing member's own fiction review submissions, networking with existing members from across the globe (over 380), managing membership applications, and developing the Links section. I have assisted in the organising of 4 seminars on aspects of madness in literature, one of which I chaired and presented for. I co-organised the 1st International Health Humanities Conference in August 2010, which included peer reviewing abstract submissions for the conference, scheduling the conference as a whole and the individual panel sessions, securing and liaising with keynote and plenary speakers (including Elaine Showalter and Kay Redfield Jamison) and managing panel speakers. I am involved in running the 2nd International Health Humanities Conference at Montclair, New Jersey.
Ongoing Doctoral Research, Royal Holloway, University of London: "Postmodern Psychosis - The Literary Move Towards New Perspectives". My thesis examines the intersection between psychiatric formulations of psychosis and the nature and status of psychosis in the work of Kathy Acker. I believe that her fiction can contribute towards clinical discourses on psychosis in a demythological, depathologising manner. I suggest that the postmodern fiction of Kathy Acker in particular proposes an innovative manifesto of psychosis for the postmodern age - one which can, circularly, be of clinical significance with regards increased understanding for individuals suffering from the psychotic illnesses.
Past Research
March 2007-June 2010 - 3 year Leverhulme Trust funded position as a Research Associate, examining representations of madness in post-war UK and US fiction.
July 2005-March 2007: Research Assistant - Perceptions of coercion: a comparison between home and hospital treatment. Role included conducting clinical interviews, obtaining consent, administering the MacArthur Admission Experience Survey, BPRS and GAF, collecting and inputting demographic data and screening clinical notes.
Future Research
On-going research areas of interest include:
- Representation of madness and mental health problems in 20th century fiction and autobiography
- Bibliotherapy - reading and wellbeing
- Self Harm and Suicide
- The history of borderline personality disorder as a diagnosis
- Using literature and humanities in clinical education
- 20th Century Literature and literary theory, particularly the theories of Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Foucault.