Our researchers are helping to put people with lived experience of mental health distress at the forefront of health and social care research.
Lived experience is the knowledge and understanding someone gets when they have personally lived through something.
This first-hand perspective provides unique insight that can enhance the quality and relevance of research, making it more authentic and genuinely informed.
We’re collaborating with the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW), Gateshead Council, Northumbria University and community organisation ReCoCo on a project that aims to redefine the role of lived experience in health research.
Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)’s Programme Development Grant, the project has secured funding for 18 months.
This will go towards the development of a Lived Experience Academy.
The Academy will give people access to education and support to lead on their own research ideas, fostering a culture of lived experience leadership in research.
It will study the impact of experience-led research, as well as support people with lived experience to develop their own research skills.
Additionally, the Academy will train traditional researchers to support people with lived experience to write and lead their own research proposals.
The Lived Experience Academy aims to nurture talent in the lived experience community, create further opportunities for collaboration and provide opportunities for new research ideas.
The research will investigate the barriers and challenges to lived experience-led research and the effects of this shift in power dynamics.
This novel approach could significantly influence the role of lived experience in research.
The project team aims to make a larger funding bid to make the Lived Experience Academy a UK-wide project.
Main image shows lived experience researchers at Northumbria University.
We want to invert the traditional hierarchies and ensure that people with lived experience get a chance to lead their own research projects, rather than just being shuttled in and out when it suits the traditional academics.
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