An ongoing series profiling phenomenology organisations from across the world, and showcasing the wealth of activities in the field today.
PhenoLab. A Theoretical Laboratory in Phenomenology and Mental Health
| Region: Italy |
| Organisation type: A Laboratory in Phenomenology and Mental Health with society constitution |
| Institutional affiliation: Independent |
| Community type: Network |
| Publications: The proceedings of the PhenoLab Summer School (volume) |
| Events: Online free of charge courses: Academic Lectures; Encountering Mental Health Professionals seminars. Paid courses: Course in Clinical Phenomenology. From theory to practice; Annual PhenoLab Summer School in Umbria |
| Activities: Academic Lectures and seminars offered in synchrony and available on YouTube channel; teaching courses in applying phenomenology, clinical phenomenology, philosophical counselling and phenomenology |
The PhenoLab was set up on November 5 2019, as a free of charge series of seminars and lectures organised and held by Prof. Dr. Francesca Brencio, Director of the PhenoLab. Originally born with the support of the Systemic Research and Psychotherapy Section at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the Freiburg Medical Centre (Germany), from October 2021 the PhenoLab activities have proceeded autonomously under the sole responsibility of Prof. Brencio.
Its mission centres on bridging phenomenology and mental health by exploring psychological experience beyond traditional diagnostic frameworks. The PhenoLab facilitates interdisciplinary exchanges between mental health professionals and philosophers, with at its centre the person with her constitutive vulnerability as a potential transformative resource in the healing journey. The dialogue between phenomenology and medicine represents a profound interdisciplinary endeavour that seeks to bridge the epistemological gap between objective medical science and subjective lived experience. By employing the phenomenological method, mental health professionals can more deeply comprehend the patient’s embodied experience of illness, moving beyond mere symptomatic analysis to a more holistic understanding of health and suffering. This approach invites clinicians to engage with patients’ narratives not as ancillary data, but as primary sources of phenomenological insight, where the qualitative dimension of the experience is recognized as essential to diagnostic and therapeutic understanding.
The PhenoLab activities are mainly focused on the following goals:
- to facilitate the interdisciplinary dialogue between mental health professionals and philosophers at an educational level;
- to build bridges between the phenomenological tradition and the Values-Based Practice;
- to improve social and clinical practices in the meaning-making process;
- to implement the PPI in research and in education.
The PhenoLab offers a variety of activities, from academic lectures to courses in clinical phenomenology, and an International Summer School in Umbria (Italy).
From 2022 to 2024 the PhenoLab has been Network Partner with Wellcome Trust Grant “Renewing Phenomenological Psychopathology”, University of Birmingham (UK).
From November 2024 the PhenoLab has been officially recognised as an Organisational Partner at The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice in Health and Social Care at the St Catherine’s College at the University of Oxford: PhenoLab – The Collaborating Centre for Values-based practice in Health and Social Care.
Website: https://phenolab.blogspot.com/
Contact: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/PhenoLab/100075861224598/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phenolab2019/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/phenolab
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phenolab.bsky.social