I was delighted to speak at this conference today via video link (first time for me!), to clinical psychology professionals, trainees and experts by experience gathered at Lancaster University.
I spoke about the development of in2gr8mentalhealth from a very personal story of experiencing mental health problems myself, about the themes of shame and feeling split off from the mental health profession because of those exleriences, and how I have met other mental health professional peers who have felt similarly through in2gr8.
Together, we challenge the lack of integration of our own lived experience in the professional mental health scene and the historic taboo and stigma of this.
It was wonderful to be a part of a full days conference at Lancaster discussing the achievements and future developments of working with experts by experience directly in research and training on the course.
Thank you to clinical psychologist Clare Dixon and trainee clinical psychologist Molly Rhinehart for supporting me on the day. Molly is herself doing some exciting research for her thesis on lived experience in mental health professionals and helps convene the NW in2gr8 peer group space.
