Celebrating the power of lived experience

03 Jun 26

This Patient Participation Week, we are sharing stories on our social media channels to celebrate individuals who have overcome mental health challenges in their own lives and are using their experiences to help others.

Individuals like HPFT’s Peer Support Workers who play a key role in care. They work alongside clinical teams, using their lived experience to offer empathy and help people feel heard, understood and less alone.

Esther and Charli are part of the Trust’s Perinatal team, supporting mothers during pregnancy and after birth.

Esther uses her own experience of mental health challenges to support women at a difficult time in their lives. She sees patient participation as being about empowerment and supporting mums being involved in their care and having their say. She also believes it is important that they feel connected with the clinicians they are working with.

Charli was supported by our Community Perinatal Team when she became pregnant with her first and second children. She describes the team’s help as being instrumental in maintaining her mental wellbeing during this time.

Charli says: “Bring supported by the community perinatal team completely transformed my life and my confidence and helped me to understand myself in a completely new way”. She also shares how turning her past pain into something meaningful has felt really powerful. Charli also works on one of our inpatient wards, offering support to adults experiencing mental health conditions.

To hear more from Esther and Charli, visit the Trusts’ social media channels Instagram, Facebook and Linked In.

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Celebrating the power of lived experience