Getting involved

Lived Experience Roles
At Sussex Partnership we have three distinct lived experience roles.
Here is a summary of these roles and the value they bring to the organisation.

Expert by Experience (EbE)
An EbE represents the service user or carer perspective and contributes to improvement projects and activities, such as recruitment or steering groups. This role is for people using services now or in recent years and is paid by an hourly rate.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peer Support Worker
With lived experience of mental health issues, or other relevant issues such as neurodivergence or criminal justice, peer support workers offer direct support to people who use our services. They are part of our clinical teams with a distinct role to build relationships using common experience, developing skills, strengths and new perspectives.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peer Trainer
Peer Trainers use their lived experience to develop and deliver co-produced training around relevant subjects. Peer Trainers are paid roles through the Trust bank as work is sessional and varied. We have Peer Trainers in both Recovery and Discovery Colleges.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact:
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Other roles
There are other roles where lived experience is essential, including Senior Peer Trainer, Senior Peer Support Coordinator, Peer Trainer Lead, Peer Support Lead and Engagement and Support Officer. In other roles lived experience is an asset, but not necessarily essential, including Participation Lead or Manager, and Patient and Carer Experience Lead.
If you are interested in learning more about these roles, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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A Peer Trainer is someone who has lived experience of mental health challenges and has shown that they have been able to use recovery tools to manage their wellbeing. We employ Peer Trainers who experience a variety of mental health challenges. As well as their lived experience many have a teaching qualification like the Level Education and Training award.  

Peer trainers are responsible for co-producing and co-delivering courses alongside a mental health practitioner or clinician who has experience through training but may also have had mental health challenges of their own at one time or another.

Peer Trainer role

As a peer trainer my role at Sussex Recovery College is to use my personal experience of my own mental health issues alongside my teacher training to deliver courses with my co-trainers.

For me this has been an incredible experience. One of my fears was that as a former service user I was recruited as a token gesture but from the first day I was treated as an equal, with my new colleagues - professionals with years of training and experiences, seeking my opinion and making decisions based on it. This to me demonstrates how much more respect is given to people living with mental health issues now and how passionate professionals are about supporting them in their recovery. Using my own experiences to help others was very rewarding and hopefully my role helps others to see that their mental health issues needn’t be a barrier to living the life they want.

One of the most inspiring things about my previous term at the Recovery College was speaking to the students who came. Some had been involved with services a long time, others had only recently started their recovery journey but all of them had made the decision to come along and try something new in the hope that they could learn something that may help them. That showed me the amazing strength that people have and seeing how much people enjoyed and took away from the sessions is why I feel so privileged that I get a chance to be part of Sussex Recovery College again this year.

Being a peer trainer:

"I became a peer trainer after the role being suggested as I was actually having difficulties managing my mental health. I had said to the practitioner that I was fed up with talking about my problems. I needed to do something constructive with my problems.

I met the team and immediately felt at ease with the group of people and straight away felt part of a positive team keen to make a difference and impact on peoples’ lives.

I was a bit of a late comer [I was always called a ‘late starter’ in my early years] and in a few days the PTTLS training begun, an intensive course on teaching adults which would give me a vocational qualification and enhance my already practiced teaching skills. The group bonded quickly and with our own set of shared difficulties and goals it was easy to make friends and feel needed.

As we were going through this, our own course, our minds were also being challenged by thinking about the types of courses best suited to us to deliver to our students. We formed relationships with practitioners and other professionals and, for the first time in a long time, I felt part of a properly engaged and professional team with high standards and wanted goals where I and my new colleagues were able to use our skills that, in some cases, had been completely dormant for years due to illness and lack of opportunities.

The first day of our first courses there was an apprehension of whether or not we would be able to deliver something different, something unique that would reach people who have found other methods of learning how to self-manage. It was soon apparent that our courses, delivering information through both practitioners and peers at an equal level really gave our student a lot to work with. Being able to adapt answers and suggestions to individual points raised is something often a practitioner with no lived-experience could provide and equally the practitioners advice and tips would be answers the peers weren’t necessarily able to provide themselves and working as an equal partnership gave neither option true precedence and therefore the students were able to use whichever training they felt appropriate.

I can tell you that it was very difficult for me to hold back tears of admiration and joy when I saw one particular student go up on stage and deliver a speech in front of 100 people. It was a big enough leap for me but for this particular student the journey was far further and done far quicker. That student had needed to be brought into the first session of my first course terrified of being in a group. That student had attended almost all of our courses and to see the result was uplifting and if you were to ask me what the highpoint of the experience was, that was it.

Being placed in a position where I can make significant changes to others’ lives and watch people grow and move on built on those small steps, I helped with, is better medication for me than any anti-depressant. I feel this is where I belong. I can pool all of my talents and experience, become part of a great team and grow my own self-esteem and sense of self-worth into the bargain. The confidence and experiences I have had have had the most positive influence on my Personal-development than any other activity I have engaged with."

Louise Patmore

Are you interested in finding out more about co-production and lived experience to enhance your practice?   Do you want to develop your group work or facilitation skills?  Or maybe you have a particular passion or area of expertise you would like to share?

If so Sussex Recovery College would love to hear from you!

We're always on the look out for clinicians to help co-deliver our courses and co-create new ones.  There are opportunities for practitioners at any stage of their career to get involved - we tailor opportunities to match your learning needs and experience.  All professions are welcome.

We offer a range of courses around Understanding & Managing Health Conditions as well as Creativity, Wellbeing and Personal Development.

We'd love to hear from you and discuss the varied opportunities for clinical and professional development. 

If you'd like us to present to your team meeting so you can find out more, please let us know. 

Please contact our Clinical Specialist Georgina Sheppard for more information This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.