Patient Participation Week: Spotlighting our lived experience colleagues

05 Jun 25

Hearing from people with lived experience of mental health conditions and learning disabilities is important to us and shapes the way we care.

At HPFT, we are passionate for people with lived experience to have their voices heard. For Patient Participation Week, we are proud to spotlight some of our incredible colleagues who help shape our services:

Charli – Peer Support Worker

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.

As part of her treatment, she attended an Emotional Coping Skills group – it was through this group that she first experienced the power of peer support.

The care Charli received inspired her to become a Peer Support Worker within our team, helping others on their own mental health journey.

“It’s an honour to meet people during such a special yet vulnerable time in their lives and to walk alongside them. I've learned that simply offering someone a safe space to express themselves is inherently healing.”

Eleni – Peer Support Worker

Eleni was referred to our Community Perinatal Team during her pregnancy, after developing depression. The team supported her both before and after birth, with one-to-one parent infant therapy, baby massage, psychology and regular psychiatry appointments.

“I am so grateful for the support – they helped me to feel heard and validated, and gradually I began to feel like myself again.”

She later joined the team as a Peer Support Worker, supporting other mothers going through challenging times.

“I feel proud that I am able to connect with service users through shared experiences.”

This is Eleni, a woman smiling outdoors, wearing a floral dress and a black headpiece. She is standing on a lawn with a large building and several people in the background.

Sally – Advanced Lived Experience and Involvement Lead

This is Sally, a woman with long blonde hair, smiling outdoors. She is wearing a floral top, with greenery and buildings in the background.

Sally is our Advanced Lived Experience and Involvement Lead for Learning Disabilities, Forensics and Rehabilitation. Her role is to increase the voice of service users and carers, making sure that they have a say in shaping our services.

“I have always worked in social care since leaving school – my first job was in the NHS in a learning disability and mental health unit.

“As well as professional experience, my personal lived experience is as a carer. I have also accessed mental health services from HPFT myself, so I understand the perspective of both a carer and a service user.

“I am so passionate about service users and carers being at the forefront of what we do. I strongly believe that people who use services and their carers are best placed to shape future services, they know what they need and what works to help their mental health.”

Tracey – Patient Safety Partner

Tracey is a Patient Safety Partner, helping the Trust to learn and improve the safety of service users through her own experiences.

“In this role, I have the privilege of sharing my story and working with teams to improve the care they provide.

“I knew that through my experience of being an inpatient, I could definitely make a difference to help keep service users and staff safe.

Some of her proud moments include leading a “Feeling Safe” survey on inpatient wards, participating in recruitment interviews and contributing to suicide prevention work.

“I want to help make a real, positive change, making the wards a safe and therapeutic place to be.”

This is Tracey, a woman with curly light hair and a sleeveless top, smiling at the camera indoors.

Helen – Health Access Champion

This is Helen, a woman smiling and holding a large paper with a smiley face emoji. She is standing in front of a brick wall with blue-framed windows, wearing a grey sweater with pink stripes and a lanyard.

Helen is a Health Access Champion for one of our Learning Disability Health Teams. She helps to improve how services for people with learning disabilities are delivered and make services easier for people to access.

“In my role, I regularly attend meetings such as the Client Opinion Group and the Making Services Better group.

“We help services create easy read information, which is really important. I also have helped to develop and deliver Continuous Quality Improvement training to make sure that it is fully accessible for all.”

“Being a Health Access Champion means a lot to me. It gives me the chance to use my experience to help other people."

If you are interested in getting involved in shaping and helping improve our services, please visit our website.

Related Pages

Patient Participation Week: Spotlighting our lived experience colleagues