Based in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, the PathLab research collaborative supports mental health and disability services scholarship grounded in critical social theory and committed to participatory, community-engaged methods. Many of the Lab’s projects focus on the consequences of neoliberal social welfare and mental health policy in the United States, including the structural impoverishment of individuals with significant long-term psychiatric disabilities and the expansion of the carceral state within public sector mental health services. The Lab deeply values lived experience of psychiatric disabilities and other experiences and identities marginalized in mental health and academic contexts, including exposure to poverty, incarceration, ethnoracial and gender-based discrimination, and welfare system involvement.
Students working within PathLab lead a variety of projects focused on public sector services, social and structural stigma/violence, and alternative policy and practice approaches to poverty, coercion, and intersectional (socioeconomic and ethnoracial) discrimination.
Mentorship and Advancing Lived Experience
PathLab and the principal investigator, Dr. Nev Jones, is deeply invested in supporting students and early career researchers from groups under-represented in academia. This includes students with psychiatric disabilities, including those conventionally labelled ‘serious mental illness’ and intersections with other areas of marginalization/oppression (eg race, class, gender identity, history of incarceration). Current or prospective students with lived experience are encouraged to reach out.
As a research lab, we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment that supports individuals with personal experiences of psychiatric disabilities and/or lived experience across all levels of academic and professional development. Our goal is to create a sustainable pipeline for lived experience researchers, from undergraduate students to tenured faculty. By challenging academic ableism and valuing the unique perspectives of individuals with lived experience, we aim to drive critical advancements in research. This commitment involves proactive recruitment, flexible work arrangements, and supportive mentorship to ensure that lived experience researchers can thrive. Through mentorship and advocacy, we strive to break down barriers, promote diversity, and support the retention and advancement of researchers with lived experiences.