This year's World Mental Health Day theme, “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” underscores the importance of involving individuals with direct experience in shaping mental health decisions, services, and support. The Trust recognises that people with lived experience—including service users, carers, volunteers, and community partners—offer invaluable insights into what works and what needs improvement.
Co-production is highlighted as a key method for translating these real voices into tangible improvements. By designing and delivering services collaboratively, the Trust aims to create more responsive, inclusive, and person-centred care. When individuals are equal partners, services are better equipped to meet user needs, strengthen recovery, and enhance the overall care experience.
Within the Trust, individuals with lived experience contribute to various activities, such as staff recruitment and training, service reviews, project development, and policy evaluation. One individual shared, "It made me feel better about services, that what I said made a difference for other people who might need to go into hospital." Another noted, "The people on the panel really listened and for the first time since I became unwell, I felt validated."
The importance of partnership extends to carers, families, and communities, whose perspectives offer a deeper understanding of individual experiences and opportunities for support improvement. The growing impact of peer support workers is also recognised, with 60 such professionals using their own recovery journeys to offer hope and practical assistance, demonstrating that lived experience is a form of expertise.
On this World Mental Health Day, the Trust encourages reflection on whose voices are shaping decisions, who might be missing from conversations, and how to foster genuine influence rather than just feedback. The commitment is to listen, learn, and act on lived experience to create more equitable, compassionate, and effective mental health services.
