The lived experience workforce: The importance of respectfully embedding lived experience at all levels of service design and production

Resumen

The employment of Peer Workers is becoming increasingly common in mental health services. However, the specific employment of people with lived experience in other dedicated roles is far less common. If cultures and outcomes in services are to change for the better, the recruitment of people to dedicated lived experience positions can be an important facilitator of positive change in organizations. Flourish Australia, is a community-managed organization that specializes in mental health support for people in psychological distress and who have a psychosocial disability. Strong, visionary leadership within Flourish Australia has used affirmative action to recruit people with lived experience at all levels of the organization. This has been a successful way to ensure that co-leadership, co-design, and co-production of mental health services are an organizational focus. The outcomes identified are enriched by lived experience, embedded in hope and human rights, recovery, and wellbeing for each individual accessing the service. The respect paid to the lived experience voice at all levels of the organization has ensured positive reforms, enabling visionary, ground breaking ideas to take root and grow. Co-leadership with people with lived experience at all levels of services is the way of the future for mental health and wellbeing services and communities. Flourish Australia has embraced this, and values lived experience.  This article demonstrates how co-leadership expands individual and collective minds, lives, services, and communities to meet the hopes and needs of people and to break the tyranny of low expectations of people with lived experience.