Shannon Pagdon, BA (she/they), is a joint masters and doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, completing a specialization in Community Organizing and Social Advocacy (COSA). She previously worked as a program manager and housing specialist for peer-run mental health nonprofits.
Shannon earned her Bachelor of Arts in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is a former Research Coordinator for EPINET New York State Psychiatric Institute. Shannon does ongoing collaboration with both the Connection Learning HealthCare System (CLHS) and California Early Psychosis Intervention Network (Epi-CAL).
Her work is grounded in lived experience of psychosis and has a background in peer support. She is the co-creator of Psychosis Outside the Box and currently serves as the Vice President of lived experience research within IEPA. She works in Dr. Nev Jones’ lab at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently leading a national investigation of the implementation of peer support and perspectives of peer specialists in US early psychosis programs. Shannon enjoys utilizing participatory methodology and elevating the voices of service users in her work.
Pagdon, S., & Jones, N. (2023). Psychosis Outside the Box: A user-led project to amplify the diversity and richness of experiences described as psychosis. Psychiatric Services.
Pagdon, S., Shahriar, S., Murphy, S., Babsuci, C.B., Flores, A.T., Rivens, A., Ered, A., Smith, W., Jones, N., Phalen, P., Calkins, M., Bennett, M. (In press). From rhetoric to action: Justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at all levels of Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis.
Jones N., Pagdon, S., Goldman H., Dixon L., (2023) Recovering the Vocational Self?: Service User Accounts of Barriers to Work and School and the Role of Early Psychosis Services in Supporting Career Development. Community Mental Health Journal.
Jones, N., Callejas, L., Brown, M., Carras, M.C., Croft, B., Pagdon, S., Sheehan, L., Oluwoye, O., Zisman-Ilani, L. (2023). Barriers to meaningful participatory mental health services research and priority next steps: Findings from a national survey. Psychiatric Services.
Selected Presentations
Pagdon S. (June, 2024, keynote speaker) Peer support across institutuons. Orygen Youth Mental Health Symposium. Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.
Pagdon S., Donantueno C., Manneville J., (July 2023, plenary presentation). Creating Harmony: personal stories of recovery from mental illness. IEPA Early Intervention in Mental Health Biennial Conference. Lausanne, SWITZERLAND.
Pagdon S. & Jones N., (May, 2023; symposium presentation). Participatory research, co-design and patient-reported measures: Many roads to enhancing patient involvement in learning health systems and measurement in early psychosis. Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) Conference. Toronto, CANADA
Baxter T., Pagdon S., Park S., Rosen C., (April, 2023; panelist). Studying felt presence in the general population. Conference on Critical Psychiatry. Vanderbilt University; Nashville, TN, USA.
- Early psychosis services
- Lived experience co-production
- Phenomenology of the experience of psychosis
- Peer support (including peer support as an alternative to coercive mental health services)
- Structural and interpersonal stigma
