In the field of participatory health research (PHR) and related action research paradigms, limitations of standard ethical codes and institutional review processes have been identified. PHR is highly situational and relational, part of a hierarchical health care context and therefore ethics of care has been suggested as a helpful theoretical approach that emphasises responsibilities and relationships. The purpose of this article is to explore the value of Tronto's second-generation ethics of care for reflection on ethical challenges experienced by academic researchers. Using the design of a collaborative auto-ethnography, this article starts from a story of a researcher who deals with dilemmas in responsibility to care for co-researchers with lived experiences during a PHR study in the field of acute psychiatric care. By analysing the challenges together with all co-researchers, using a framework of ethics of care, we discovered the importance of self-care and existential safety for an ethical PHR practice. The reflexive meta-narrative shows that the ethics of care lens is useful to untangle moral dilemmas in all participatory researchrelated paradigms for all engaged.

Care avoidance refers to the condition wherein clients do not seek assistance and do not attend appointments although they are in need of help. Care avoidance is linked to another phenomenon, the inability to help clients with multiple and complex problems by social services and care facilities, in this article identified as care paralysis. The aim of this article is to understand the production and reduction of care avoidance and care paralysis. Care avoidance and care paralysis not only coincide, they reinforce and recall each other. Trust and initiative -the opposite of avoidance and paralysis -are affirmed under conditions as an experienced proximity between the local population and care facilities and the committed involvement of professionals to a bounded territory. Trust and initiative also coincide, reinforce and recall each other. The existence of a safety net like Public Mental Health Care is closely linked to the absence of this vitality.

Care providers who establish contact and win trust employ 'non-judgemental appreciation'. They start from the acceptance of what is and try to connect with the client and their world. These professionals use their initial actions to identify and praise qualities and achievements of clients. This style of work is supported by a set of deep-rooted personal qualities we can summarize as 'empathy'.

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Family group conferences are usually organized in youth care settings, especially in cases of (sexual) abuse of children and domestic violence. Studies on the application of family group conferences in mental health practices are scarce, let alone in a setting even more specific, such as public mental health care. The present study reports on an exploratory study on the applicability of family group conferencing in public mental health care. Findings suggest that there are six reasons to start family group conference pilots in public mental health care. First, care providers who work in public mental health care often need to deal with clients who are not motivated in seeking help. Family group conferences could yield support or provide a plan, even without the presence of the client. Second, conferences might complement the repertoire of treatment options between voluntary help and coercive treatment. Third, clients in public mental health care often have a limited network. Conferences promote involvement, as they expand and restore relationships, and generate support. Fourth, conferences could succeed both in a crisis and in other non-critical situations. Sometimes pressure is needed for clients to accept help from their network (such as in the case of an imminent eviction), while in other situations, it is required that clients are stabilized before a conference can be organized (such as in the case of a psychotic episode). Fifth, clients who have negative experiences with care agencies and their representatives might be inclined to accept a conference because these agencies act in another (modest) role. Finally, the social network could elevate the work of professionals.