Edward Day BA, BM, BCh, DM, MRCPsych, MBE
Psychosocial interventions for dual diagnoses
Dr Ed Day was for 6 years the UK government’s drug Recovery Champion and is vice president of the Society for the Study of Addiction. In 2024, King Charles announced he was awarded the MBE for services to vulnerable people.
He is a clinician who has led the orientating of clinical practice towards recovery and has a research interest in recovery support services and mutual aid.
He is a clinical reader in Addiction Psychiatry at the Institute for Mental Health at the University of Birmingham (where he earned The Rose Sidgwick Award for External Engagement and Impact), and a consultant psychiatrist with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust. He has been an expert adviser on addiction issues to Public Health England and the Department for Transport. He also pioneered the Better Than Well university collegiate programme at the University of Birmingham and collaborates with other universities on these.
Dr Day’s research has focused on the broad theme of effective treatment interventions for drug and alcohol dependence. This has involved a combination of projects utilising: medication or psychosocial interventions, projects exploring methods of implementation and research into the organisational factors associated with effective outcomes.
In 2008 he set up an MSc programme in the Treatment of Substance Misuse at the University of Birmingham and remains active in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
PRESENTATION
Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for adults with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders
Ed Day will describe the progress developing an understanding of recovery in national policy in England over the past 5 years. He will also share findings from his latest collaborative research, a comprehensive umbrella review of 28 systematic reviews evaluating psychosocial interventions for adults (18+) with substance use disorders and co-occurring common mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. It examines the comparative effectiveness of integrated, parallel, and sequential treatment approaches, highlights the challenges posed by high heterogeneity in the evidence base, and discusses implications for clinical practice and future research in dual-diagnosis care.
Learning objectives
At the end of this presentation, delegates will be able to:
- Describe the current evidence on the effectiveness of various psychosocial interventions for improving both substance use and mental health outcomes in adults with co-occurring disorders
- Compare the relative benefits of integrated treatment versus treating conditions separately or in parallel/uncoordinated services
- Identify key research gaps (e.g., need for longer follow-up, larger samples, and direct comparisons of treatment models) and discuss their implications for evidence-based practice in dual-diagnosis populations.