This month the International Biocentric Psychoanalysis Institute celebrated its one-year anniversary at an event at the Innovation Factory in Belfast. Using a social enterprise model, the IBPI attempts to lower costs in private mental healthcare while using innovative techniques and technology to improve mental health and train the therapists of tomorrow.

The institute offers budding mental health practitioners a two-year postgraduate specialisation in a brand-new psychological modality: Biocentric Psychoanalysis. It is the first institute of its kind offering this type of training and treatment in Northern Ireland. The IBPI is accredited by the National Council of Psychotherapists and the treatment is now registered in 26 countries across the globe.

Dr Melania Duca-Canavan, Founder and Director of IBPI

Dr Melania Duca-Canavan, Founder and Director of the institute, explained that “this new integrative and pragmatic approach to mental health care – where behavioural science serves as a more complete investigation of the mind, deepening and empowering the psychoanalytic psychotherapy and where the body, generally left behind by modern psychology, plays a fundamental role in recovery, personal growth and happiness – has already made a difference to hundreds of people’s lives.”

She further explained that centring on the ‘ego’, practitioners can work with a person’s identity and ‘sew’ more positive connections in the patient’s mind down the road to recovery, connecting one’s identity in a way that builds confidence and more understanding of one’s ‘self’.

IBPI is not only a training institute; it also specialises in individual, couples and group analysis. Its treatment approach is to provide support and feedback to help clients resolve current problems and change long-standing behavioural patterns on their own, building people’s own capacity and empowering them to improve their mental health constructively.

There is plenty of innovation in the IBPI’s approaches to therapy. Partnered with Altesc VR in Lisburn, the two organisations have been able to pioneer VR Exposure Therapy, where they can create virtual environments reconstructing patient’s dreams and even past traumatic events.

Combined with traditional therapy, these environments allow individuals to improve their mental well-being by being exposed to their fears and difficult situations while being completely in control of their environment and actions, therapeutically allowing them to confront issues that have negatively affected their lives.

Dr Canavan iterated that the Biocentric Psychoanalysis modality and social-economic business model are even more necessary today, as “the mental health sector is facing the biggest crisis in recorded history.” NHS mental health services are continually underfunded and understaffed – the waiting list to see a psychiatrist can be up to two years.

She cited that Northern Ireland is lacking a sufficient amount of qualified psychiatrists in general and that misdiagnoses are commonplace. Common psychotherapy treatment is also becoming less effective and doctors are resorting to nearly ‘handing out’ prescription drugs as a solution to the deep-embedded psychological issues patients are facing.

Speaking from her experience coming from her native Italy, Dr Canavan said that “the ease of getting a prescription in Northern Ireland is shocking – today it’s almost as easy as prescribing someone an aspirin!”

Current private sector practices aren’t very practical either. According to Dr Canavan, it’s not uncommon for first consultations to cost up to £230 in a private clinic – you’re unlikely to return after that size of a bill. In contrast, the IBPI offers free initial consultations to all its patients through its social enterprise model, allowing revenue through its various streams to subsidise its service, making its mental healthcare affordable, accessible and effective.

“It’s not okay ‘to not be okay’ all the time. We need affordable and effective therapy that solves problems once and for all,” Dr Canavan said. “Mental health, like physical health, is a social responsibility and if something has to be done, that something needs to be done together.”

Martin Acton, a local Aikido Sensei

Indeed, promoting physical health is a central tenet of the IBPI’s philosophy – and crucial to better mental health. The institute highlights this in its collaboration with Martin Acton, a local Aikido Sensei who has trained himself and others around the world.

Dr Canavan, being a former athlete herself, saw the natural symbiosis between wellness of the mind, body and spirit; the tenets of her teachings and the promotion of sport and exercise are not in competition with each other, but complementary to one another.

Both Dr Canavan and Acton agreed that Aikido is excellent training for people across all sectors and is especially helpful in business management and in the successful managing of people. The Sensei’s first book, A cure for modern society, Practical guide to learning Aikido, not only for fighting, hitting the shelves soon, showcases this shared philosophy.

As it enters only its second year, IBPI is already a prime example of how the social enterprise model is changing industry and effecting positive social change in Northern Ireland, finding solutions to problems that haven’t been answered and that are sometimes caused by the economic structures of the private, public and third sectors. By addressing some of our biggest socio-economic challenges in a way that straddles all sectors, social enterprise is a business model that helps prepare us for the future.