Listening to lived experience this World Mental Health Day

This year’s World Mental Health Day is about lived experience and making sure people’s voices lead to change.

At FitzRoy, that means listening properly to what matters to each person and supporting them to have more say over their own lives.

For Sarah, it meant finding new ways to manage her mental health and feel more in control.

Sarah lives in her own flat in Nottingham and is proud to have a space that’s completely her own. Earlier this year, she decided she wanted to work towards not calling 999 unless it was really needed. With support from her key worker, Emily, Sarah created a crisis plan to help her through difficult moments. She also started a talking journal, where she writes down how she’s feeling and shares it with Emily, knowing her feelings will be heard and taken seriously.

It’s now been months since Sarah last called 999. She feels safer and happier at home and knows who to turn to when she needs support. Sarah is proud of the progress she’s made and hopes sharing her story will help others who might be struggling with something similar.

Good support starts with knowing what matters to someone.

The people we support know their own lives better than anyone. They know what is working for them, what is not and what they want to change. Listening to that should shape both the support people receive and the way FitzRoy works.

There are several ways people we support can influence what happens at FitzRoy. Experts by Experience use their own knowledge and experience to help colleagues understand what good support looks like through our Oliver McGowan training programme.

People also use their experiences to help others directly. Sarah recently created an easy read safeguarding guide, spending four days working on it to help people understand what safeguarding means and how it can keep them safe. She wanted to use her own experiences to support others living with mental health diagnoses.

Our Nationwide forum and regional forums gives people from across FitzRoy a chance to come together, raise the things that matter to them, have their voices heard and influence decisions within the organisation.

This is about much more than asking people for feedback. It is about people having a proper say in decisions that affect them.

For many people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs, that has not always been their experience. Too often, decisions have been made for them rather than with them.

World Mental Health Day gives us a chance to think about what listening really means. It means knowing what matters to someone, taking their experience seriously and making sure their voice can make a difference.