Lived Experience & Participation
Supporting lived experienced people to develop their knowledge, skills and influence, alongside helping organisations create meaningful, trauma-informed approaches to lived-experience participation and leadership.
Lived experience brings knowledge and expertise that can shape research, services, policy and practice.
My work supports people with lived experience to recognise and develop their knowledge, skills, confidence and influence, alongside supporting organisations, researchers and teams to create more meaningful, equitable and trauma-informed approaches to participation, co-production and lived-experience leadership.
More than a Seat at the table…
Meaningful lived-experience involvement isn’t simply about inviting people into the room. It is about who has influence once they’re there, whose knowledge is valued, and who gets to shape what happens next.
My approach starts from the position that lived experience is a form of knowledge and expertise. People should be involved early enough to influence the questions being asked, the decisions being made and the outcomes that follow, rather than being invited in once the important decisions have already been taken.
It also means recognising that having lived experience does not create an obligation to share your personal story. People should have meaningful choice over what they share, how they contribute and the role their lived experience plays in their involvement.
I pay particular attention to power: who sets the agenda, whose contribution carries weight, who makes the final decisions, and who benefits from people’s involvement. Meaningful participation should recognise people’s time and expertise, including appropriate payment and recognition for their contribution.
My work is grounded in trauma-informed principles, creating spaces that support choice, safety, trust, collaboration and empowerment, while recognising that lived experience sits alongside many other forms of knowledge, skills, experience and identity.
Ultimately, participation should be about more than being heard. It should create genuine opportunities for people to contribute, influence and lead in shaping change.
For Lived Experienced People
Learning, development & opportunities
Your lived experience is part of what you know, but it isn’t the only thing you bring.
I create learning and development opportunities specifically for care-experienced people that recognise your knowledge, skills, ideas, values and potential not simply the experiences you’ve been through.
These spaces are designed to support you to explore what matters to you, develop new knowledge and skills, recognise the expertise you may already have, and discover different ways to participate, influence, research and lead.
There is no expectation that taking part means sharing your personal story.
You choose what you share, how you participate and what you want to take from the experience.
Care Experienced People Month 2026
Leading the Way: From Experience to Empowerment
This year’s theme closely reflects the principles at the heart of my work: recognising lived experience as knowledge and expertise, creating meaningful opportunities for leadership and influence, and considering what organisations and professionals need to do differently to make that possible.
Alongside my free learning programme for care-experienced people, I’m offering two professional learning sessions during Care Experienced People Month for people and organisations wanting to strengthen their practice.
Designed with choice in mind
You don’t need any previous experience, qualifications or knowledge to take part in these workshops.
They are interactive spaces, but interactive doesn’t mean you have to speak or share personal experiences. There will be different ways to participate, reflect and contribute, and you can decide what feels right for you. The workshops will not be recorded.
Beyond Care Experienced Peoples Month
My work with lived-experienced people isn’t limited to Care Experienced People Month.
I develop and facilitate learning and development around areas including lived-experience leadership, research and peer research, participation and co-production, influencing change, and recognising and developing lived-experience expertise.
Accessibility Matters: Pay what you can
I don’t want cost to be the reason a lived-experienced person can’t access learning or development that could be useful to them. Open workshops and learning opportunities created specifically for lived-experienced people will therefore always be offered on a pay-what-you-can basis, including the option to attend for free where needed. If you’re able and choose to pay, your contribution helps me continue to make these opportunities accessible to other lived-experienced people. This applies to individuals booking onto my open sessions. Organisations commissioning training, workshops or places for groups are charged at my organisational rates.
New open workshops and opportunities will be added here as they become available.
If you’re an organisation looking for a workshop or programme specifically for the care-experienced people you work alongside, please see For Organisations below.
For Organisations
Turning lived-experience involvement into meaningful practice
I support organisations, research teams and services to develop meaningful, trauma-informed approaches to lived-experience involvement, participation and leadership.
Creating opportunities for people with lived experience to participate is important. But participation alone does not guarantee that people feel valued, that their expertise is recognised, or that their involvement has any meaningful influence over what happens next.
Whether you’re developing a new project, strengthening an existing participation approach, working with lived-experience researchers, or creating opportunities for people with lived experience to influence decision-making, I can provide training, facilitation, consultancy and practical support.
My approach goes beyond asking whether lived experience is included to consider how people are involved, where the power sits, how their expertise is valued, who gets to make decisions, and whether their involvement has genuine influence over what happens next.
This means paying attention to the structures and conditions around participation: creating choice and psychological safety, recognising and valuing people’s contributions, sharing ownership where possible, involving people early enough to shape the work, and ensuring lived experience is recognised as a form of knowledge and expertise rather than simply a story to be heard.
Support can range from individual workshops and facilitated sessions to bespoke, ongoing support shaped around the needs of your organisation, project or group.
Beyond Awareness: Supporting Care-Experienced People in Practice
November 2026 | 09:30–13:00 | Online
Awareness is only the beginning.
This session explores how organisations and practitioners can move beyond good intentions towards practice that better supports belonging, stability, participation and opportunity for care-experienced people.
Drawing on research, practice and lived experience, we’ll consider how assumptions, organisational systems and everyday ways of working can create barriers — and what we can practically do differently.
Lived Experience Leadership (LEX): Beyond Consultation and Into Influence
9 November 2026 | 09:30–15:30 | Online
Inviting people with lived experience into the room isn’t the same as sharing influence.
This session explores how organisations can move beyond consultation towards meaningful lived-experience leadership — recognising lived experience as expertise and creating opportunities for care-experienced people to shape decisions, research, policy and practice.
We’ll explore participation, power, decision-making, co-production and what it takes to create genuine opportunities for lived-experience expertise to influence what happens next.
Meaningful Participation & Co-production
Building participation that creates influence, not just involvement
Meaningful participation is about more than creating opportunities for people with lived experience to contribute. It means considering when people are involved, what influence they have, how decisions are made, and what happens as a result of their contribution.
I support organisations to develop, strengthen and review trauma-informed participation and co-production, recognising lived experience as knowledge and expertise while paying attention to the relationships, structures and power that shape people’s involvement.
Participation design & development
Support to develop participation from the beginning — considering who is involved and why, accessibility and choice, roles and boundaries, payment and recognition, decision-making, and how people’s contributions will influence what happens next.
Reviewing participation
Already have participation structures in place? I can help you explore what’s working, what isn’t, and where involvement could have greater influence.
This might include advisory groups, lived-experience panels, participation programmes, co-production structures or individual projects — looking beyond who has a seat at the table to consider who sets the agenda, whose knowledge carries weight and who gets to make decisions.
Co-production
I support organisations to develop approaches to co-production that are meaningful and honest about where power can genuinely be shared.
This can include involving people with lived experience in identifying priorities, developing ideas, shaping delivery, interpreting learning and influencing decisions.
Lived experience in research
I support research teams to involve lived-experience contributors, peer researchers and co-researchers meaningfully throughout the research process, from developing questions and research design through to data collection, co-analysis, interpretation and dissemination.
This can also include peer researcher training and support, advisory structures, and thinking critically about power, ownership and decision-making within research.
Facilitation
I provide independent facilitation for lived-experience groups, advisory spaces, co-production workshops, research activities and strategic conversations, creating spaces that pay attention to choice, safety, relationships, power and different ways of contributing.
Turning participation into change
Participation shouldn’t end when the meeting or workshop finishes.
I can support you to turn what has been heard into action, involve lived-experience contributors in making sense of learning and decisions, and create feedback loops so people can see what their contribution influenced and what changed as a result.
Bespoke support
Whether you’re developing participation for the first time, strengthening an existing approach or want lived experience to have greater influence within a particular project, support can range from a single facilitated session to ongoing involvement across a longer-term programme of work.
Get in touch to discuss your organisation or project. your organisation or project, please get in touch.