Around 20 years ago, I was meant to go to a therapeutic community, but I didn’t feel this was right for me. Instead, I changed to part-time working to allow me to complete a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience, as I wanted to understand more about mental health. This started a slow change of career, supported by transformative coaching and a bit of luck! In 2013 I left my job of 17 years and started with a service user-led organisation as a lived experience researcher. Since this time, I’ve worked mostly in research, and when NHSE funded the Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) programme, lived experience lead roles, a friend encouraged me to apply – I wanted to make a difference in the support offered to people who meet the criteria for a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’. The post was in East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT); fortunately, I also applied to Berkshire Healthcare and got this one too (sorry, ELFT). It felt like a better fit for me.

I started in post in August 2021, based in the Psychologically Informed Consultation and Training (PICT) team within the IMPACTT service. I was the first lived experience member of staff, and part of my role was to bring more lived experience practitioners on board – pleased to say there are now seven of us (three in PICT and four in the Service User Network (SUN)). Another part of my role is co-facilitating our co-produced training and consultations with staff teams, which is so rewarding as we bring a mix of living and traditionally trained perspectives to all that we do. We also have a co-production strategy, with the ambition of creating even more lived experience posts across IMPACTT.

What have been some of your key learning points in the role?

I have grown to realise that the emotional labour of lived experience work is sometimes unseen by others. I like to think I am a ‘buffer’ for my lived experience team; to help them reflect and to support conversations about self-care. Things can really take you by surprise some days and unexpectedly throw your day off from your intended plan. So having time to process this is crucial.

Having permission to use our lived experience is a privilege – there are gives and takes each day, and I learn from all my encounters with colleagues and clients. To see how invested the team are in improving the lives of our clients has been wonderful.

It’s so rewarding to see staff flourish and to support their development. I’m mindful that sometimes oversharing may happen for any of us, which is why peer supervision is so vital. You have an internal dilemma – you bring lived experience to your role, but you don’t need to overload this into the system. We are always sense-checking and considering these points; what is relevant, what is appropriate and who will benefit. I have gained a lot of self-learning from working in this team and from my colleagues' lived experiences.

How do you look after yourself in this role?

Making space in a demanding role is a challenge! Phillip Stokoe promotes the ‘healthy organisation’ as having a fourth element, which is ‘thinking space’. Taking time to utilise this is essential; reflective space is fundamental for all of us. I find it difficult to stay still for long periods, so I like to build a run or swim into my day to keep myself on track – this also acts as another space for reflection.

Being allowed to coordinate my day enables me to be fully present. I use time to talk to people in my day-to-day role, e.g. Peer Spaces. We have a Teams channel as well as a WhatsApp group to keep in contact when working remotely. I also have a supportive and compassionate line manager which helps a lot! I am allowed to be myself in this role, which takes away the pressure experienced in other roles; it’s lovely to be valued for who I am, rather than a diagnostic label.