Lived experience is much more than just an experience of mental illness. It includes an understanding of marginalisation, oppression and discrimination because of our lived experience, and subsequently, our identities. How do we use our lived experience to challenge power imbalances and allow us to create a more collaborative and authentic relationship with friends and family, co-workers and colleagues, and service providers and receivers?
The stigma of being labelled with a diagnosis, and the accompanying narratives often leads to
service providers and commissioners adopting what can feel like a “them and us” demeanour.
The LEN will be a space where lived experience can be celebrated and highly valued. This co-created forum will explore how lived experience can provide therapeutic and healing possibilities, as well as challenge the stigma and misconceptions of living with a mental illness diagnosis.
Together we can explore opportunities that we can access, provide peer and mentor support to one another, and gain a better understanding of ourselves and accepting our identity and lived
experience as a valuable resource.
The network will be facilitated by Neels who has been a member of therapeutic communities.
Drawing on their own lived experiences of being diagnosed and labelled, fighting the stigma and surviving in a society that can be punitive and punishing, they will be creating a safe space for people with lived experience to come together.
If you would like to be on the mailing list, or to find out more information email
admin@therapeuticcommunities.org
Neelam Khawani-Connett
Neelam Khawani-Connett has a diagnosis and lived experience of personality disorder. She graduated from a therapeutic community in the UK over 10 years ago, having battled with her own depression from a very young age. The skill-set she has developed allows Neelam to work collaboratively alongside mental health practitioners to support service users & raise awareness of personality disorders and emotionally challenging behaviours. She is a KUF trainer and a group facilitator, helped establish one of the therapeutic communities in Buckinghamshire, co-developed the TCEPT course and leads reviews in therapeutic communities and enabling environments for two projects within The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Since she has been in Goa, Neelam is a member of the Hank Nunn Institute trust board, helps deliver webinars, is a staff member of their academic therapeutic community, Mosaic, and co-facilitates the greencare group, GreenCloud International. More recently, she has been co-opted on to The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities trust board
Vikki H
Vikki is Lived Experience Co-ordinator at CHT, working to develop their Experts by Experience programme.
Her current journey began with volunteering as a Peer Supporter in women’s substance use services. Since then, she has worked as a Co-production and Engagement Worker, mentoring people with experience of multiple disadvantage (combined homelessness, mental health issues, substance use, domestic abuse and interaction with the criminal justice system), as a Lived Experience Trauma Informed Trainer in the NHS co-facilitating training for staff, a Peer Trainer in Recovery College co-facilitating psychoeducational groups for people who had experienced trauma, and as Research and Learning Officer within a systems change team.
In this presentation she will share her thoughts on how we can use Trauma Informed Practice to support our wellbeing as Experts by Experience, and a co-produced toolkit for employers and the people with lived experience that they employ.
TCTC Virtual Conference, 28 and 29 February 2024
It was with a great buzz of excitement, and a small prayer that technology behaved for us, when Peter, Sarah, Ellie, Abi and I all logged in to Zoom to welcome the delegates for our virtual conference: Where do I belong?
What a fantastic turn out on both the days and we were thrilled by the enthusiastic engagement and insightful discussions that took place over the two days.
Throughout the conference, we were privileged to host a diverse range of speakers and presenters who shared valuable insights and experiences related to the theme Where do I belong?
There were exciting talks and presentations from around the globe. We were particularly moved by the impactful presentations from Brigid and her team at Compassionate Mental Health, who gave us a wonderful insight into their valuable work. We had an amazing life story shared by one of the residents at Amberleigh Care, it was certainly one of the best presentations I have sat through with narration, live talking, music… and fabulous interactions with the cohort. It was such a natural and very powerful snapshot of this young person’s journey in the 2 years he has been at Amberleigh, you could almost forget that we were online and not physically present in the room with him.
We also had Katherine sharing her experience around service user research, our wonderful UNREADers sharing their 6 months journey in the training they were receiving from the Hank Nunn Institute in India and we also had the lovely Aryan from Mumbai sharing his personal experience of being, and working, with transgender people in the Indian sub-continent.
Not forgetting our valuable panel members, Deborah, Tom, Kati, Hel and Ellie for sharing their lived experience of Where do I belong? in the personal and professional journeys within the mental health system. Their contributions added depth and authenticity to our discussions.
We were excited to announce the launch of our Lived Experience Network (LEN), aimed at fostering further connections and support within our community. Our first event under this initiative is scheduled for May 30th, and we would like to encourage you to visit the TCTC website for more details.
For those who were unable to attend the conference or wish to revisit the sessions, recordings are available upon request. Please contact our admin team at admin@therapeuticcommunities.org for access.
Finally, we would like to extend an invitation to join us again for our next virtual conference in 2025. Dates will be announced shortly on our website, and we look forward to welcoming you once more for another enriching experience.
Thank you once again for your enthusiastic participation and support. Together, we are making a difference in the field of mental health.
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