PPI Ignite Festival: Let’s Chat About Medicines!

On Tuesday the 3rd of October, EQUIP was delighted to be included in the PPI Ignite festival, hosting ‘Let’s Chat About Medicines!’ an event which invited members of the community with intellectual disabilities to come along with their support staff and family and learn about psychotropic medicine use in people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland. ‘Let’s Chat About Medicines’ was co-designed by three people with intellectual disability with extensive input from the research centre’s PPI panel.

Participants were informed about what psychotropic medicines are, their effects and how psychotropic medicine use has changed in Ireland over the past 10 years. Attendees were encouraged to engage with the information, providing opinions and stories about their own medicines and experiences. Most participants seemed to thoroughly enjoy the interactive paddle board game throughout the event, where they were asked true or false questions, encouraging further engagement and involvement on the day. The interactive components of the event, coupled with the engaging presentation of results ensured people of all capacities could learn something about psychotropic medicines.

‘Lets chat about medicines!’ aimed to provide attendees with the knowledge and opportunity to become more empowered regarding their medications, to ask questions and understand what medicines they are taking and how they affect them. We want people with intellectual disability to have the opportunity to become active decision makers in conversations surrounding their medicine use.

There was great feedback from the event, with attendees thoroughly enjoying the experience

"I would like to hear how different medications work"

"I would like to learn about medication for my mental health"