Service Description

The very first group meeting for Lived Experience Practitioners (people who use their experience of living with a mental health condition within their job role, e.g. Peer Support Workers, Service User Researchers, Service User Consultants) to share & explore knowledge and support each other in their work. This is the first session, where we will discuss Professor Peter Beresford’s recent work which highlights the greater difficulty that grassroots, service user led initiatives face in gaining funding when compared to larger Mental Health organisations or charities. Guardian article here: https://goo.gl/wnHGy9 Academic paper here: https://goo.gl/vcVccn The idea to set up a group is the response to many Lived Experience Practitioners voicing the unique challenges they face whilst working within organisations in roles where they openly use their lived experience of living with a mental health condition to inform their work. There are currently no formalised models for supervision or support for this type of working. This group will use a combination of exploring existing knowledge in the field in terms of literature written by Lived Experience academics and activists, and exploring the common themes we find within our work across different organisations or roles. Attendees will decide the day, time, venue and frequency of future meetings. The meetings will be facilitated by Tamar Jeynes, a Lived Experience Practitioner who runs Pink Sky Thinking (more info at www.pinkskythinking.com). The meetings are currently an unfunded, grass roots initiative and are free to attend, attendees will need to purchase their own refreshments at Java Lounge.

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