A collective investment in lived experience practice: Examining a co-produced steering group within a mental health peer worker project

This paper describes the significance of a co-produced steering group within a project to introduce a new mental health peer worker role- the Lived Experience Practitioner (LXP) into a UK National Health Service (NHS) Trust. The steering group functions to guide decision making within the project. Through interactions between Lived Experience Practitioners, healthcare professionals and managers, meanings are negotiated and the space is co-constructed. The author will present qualitative findings from constructivist grounded theory PhD research examining how LXP roles are supported in an NHS Trust. Exploring how this steering group can be read as a relational space. This paper offers a timely discussion highlighting the complexity and value of co-producing governance structures as part of the process to support the lived experience workforce in mental health services.

Analysis of policy documents and intensive interviews with LXPs, healthcare professionals and managers involved in the Lived Experience Practitioner project will be presented. Alongside commentary upon Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006).

In the UK and internationally employment as a peer worker is increasingly recognised as an established pathway for many individuals in recovery from mental health issues (Moran et al, 2014). Yet it has been argued that the mutuality and reciprocity that characterise peer support cannot easily transpose onto a highly standardised cultures such as the NHS (Faulkner and Basset, 2012). For the adoption of a lived experience workforce to be successful, supportive and resourced environments are needed (Byrne et al, 2016).

This paper concludes that by employing co-production principles in its design, the LXP project steering group extends beyond its traditional governance remit. In so doing, this space is co-constructed through discursive interactions between LXPs, healthcare professionals and managers. Through interactions occurring within and surrounding this steering group a collective investment in the Lived Experience Practitioner role is established.