The Unfragile Mind: What Does it Mean to be Well

with Dr Gavin Francis

Curious Minds Festival

Sat 14 Mar ’26 13:00 - 14:00

Sat 14 Mar ’26

13:00 - 14:00

Sat 14 Mar ’26

Doors open

12:30

Start

13:00

Approx. end

14:00

BRLSI, BA1 2HN

Tickets
Tickets from £11 (inc. fees)

What does it mean to be well in an age of soaring diagnoses, rigid labels and fragile understandings of mental health?

One in four adults are prescribed psychiatric medication. Between a quarter and a fifth of young people in the UK now suffer a mental disorder. These numbers represent a huge and recent expansion in mental health labelling, but reveal nothing of the experience of those seeking help.

Join Dr Gavin Francis who’ll be drawing on three decades of medical practice as he explores the expanding landscape of psychiatric diagnoses, the lived realities behind statistics, and the limitations of treating human experience through rigid protocols. He’ll talk to us about mood disorders, trauma, anxiety and addiction and why he's arguing for a more curious, humane and hopeful approach - one that sees the mind not as breakable, but adaptable, responsive and deeply resilient.

This event will be followed by a book signing, supported by Mr B’s Emporium of Books.

Part of

Curious Minds Festival

Francis offers hope and a rare and precious quiet form of consolation

Observer

About Dr Gavin Francis

Dr Gavin Francis is a GP and urgent care physician with a special interest in mental health. He is the bestselling author of Adventures in Human Being, Shapeshifters, Intensive Care, Recovery and Free for All. He writes about health and medicine for the Guardian, London Review of Books and the Times, among others.

This event is kindly supported by BIRD