A group of our Experts have recently participated in a four-week “Foundations in Patient Leadership” course commissioned by Mental Health Together.

The training is aimed at enhancing patient involvement in service design and delivery. The trainer, David Gilbert, was the first Patient Director in England and has worked with various trusts and organisations to establish patient leadership pathways. He has his own personal lived experience of mental health challenges. David helped the Experts to think through the purposes, challenges and differences of their role in the Derbyshire system.  As they seek to bring the all important ‘patient lens’ to discussions what does it cost them, what supports them and what are their aspirations for the future?

“I’ve just run a ‘Foundations in Patient (Lived Experience) Leadership’ programme for Experts by Experience at Mental Health Together. Having run twenty such programmes and having been the first Patient (Lived Experience) Director in the NHS, I was struck by the passion, insight and wisdom of the participants.

Also, how they bring a considered version of their own vulnerability and humanity into play. They tested their own boundaries, questioned their own assumptions, and reframed what they knew – this is not just a bunch of raw recruits ready to sound off, get angry, tell their own stories to the detriment of being strategic. These are potential partners – people who can meet professionals half-way (and more), puzzle out problems, help professionals explore wider ways to look at things. More than this, they see the NHS in trouble sometimes and really want to help. I’d recommend you use their willing services.”  – David Gilbert, Director of InHealth Associates

See more on InHealth Associates.