New Roadmap Places Lived Experience at the Core of Mental Health Reform
- Lisa Dewberry
- Jul 23
- 5 min read
The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) has launched a powerful new initiative titled ‘Transforming Mental Health through Lived Experience’ on 30 June. This roadmap, revealed to an audience of nearly 400 global participants, is a pivotal shift in how mental health services are delivered, not just in Europe but worldwide. At the heart of this roadmap is the premise that transforming mental health services, making them more focused on a person’s recovery, isn’t only about accessing extra resources or new technologies. It’s about something deeply human, acknowledging and integrating the expertise of those who have personally experienced mental health challenges.
A First of Its Kind
The roadmap is the first of its kind in both scope and scale, co-designed by people with lived or living experience of mental health issues, alongside family members, Mental Health Europe and Ireland’s Department of Health and Health Service Executive. It is a blueprint for how countries can fully integrate people with firsthand or lived experience also known as ‘lived experience practitioners’ into mental health policies, services and communities.
Lived Experience as Expertise
A central philosophy of the roadmap is that those who have experienced mental health difficulties bring an expertise not offered in any course or textbook. The insights of lived/living experience practitioners, alongside those of service providers, policy-makers and families are critical to building effective, compassionate and recovery-oriented mental health systems that place the person at the centre.
Lived/living experience practitioners hold many roles within mental health services helping others on their recovery journeys by modelling what recovery looks like. They may also support others to navigate through care pathways or advise organizations and policy-makers on whether mental health policies will effectively do what they intend to.
According to Michael Ryan, Head of Mental Health Engagement and Recovery at the Ireland Health Service Executive, lived experience expertise is equal to but different from other expertise such as clinical, social and policy. He says it is essential knowledge for creating health systems that provide people using these services with maximal opportunities to recover and create a life of their own choosing.
“The key benefit of lived experience expertise is giving hope to those struggling with mental health challenges, hope that recovery is possible for everyone. By including the power of lived experience, health systems can transform how they provide services and the lives of those using them,” says Ryan.
Turning Insight Into Action
The roadmap lists six key actions countries can take to include lived experience in mental health systems and services.
Strengthening national policy to formally include lived experience roles
Building organizational readiness for meaningful integration
Promoting co-creation in service design and delivery
Standardizing training and professional development
Supporting practitioners through supervision and reflective practice
Expanding reach using digital innovations.
These action points are informed by systematic research, real-life cases of what worked across Europe and the diverse expertise of lived experience practitioners, health-care professionals, academics and policy-makers from 29 European countries.
Beyond Symbolism: Implementing Paid Lived Experience Roles
While 86% of countries surveyed by WHO/Europe say they involve lived experience in mental health policy-making, many still do so only in symbolic or ‘tokenistic’ ways. The roadmap seeks to change this, moving from occasional consultation to meaningful, paid roles that that reflect the value of lived expertise as professional expertise.
Flóris Balta, lived experience practitioner from Hungary and task force member, says in his experience, the most significant gaps are in the areas of peer leadership and inclusive organizational culture. He says there are community psychiatry services in operation that do not work with lived/living experience experts at all.
“While decision-makers may engage in dialogue with provider organizations, this rarely means that lived/living experience experts have a meaningful say in policy-making. I believe the action points in the roadmap have the potential to mobilize international experience and evidence to help change this,” says Balta.
Everyone has a Part to Play
One of the key strengths of the roadmap is that it was co-created by a task force of experts by experience and by profession. This task force was chaired by Michael Ryan along with Catherine Brogan, former president of Mental Health Europe and current CEO of Suicide or Survive.
According to Brogan, co-creation means they include as equals from the start of the project, programme, policy or service, the voice of all relevant actors. She says this includes people with lived/living experience, family members, service providers, civil society, non-profits, policy-makers and others.
Co-creation is increasingly seen as best practice in mental health service design and WHO/Europe has already applied co-creative principles in past initiatives, such as the 2023 ‘Youth engaged for mental health’ framework. “This roadmap is a clear example of co-creation. And the fact that it was co-created will be paramount for actually implementing roadmap actions, promoting true organization commitment,” says Brogan.
Flóris Balta says it meant a lot to him to be able to bring his country’s experiences and challenges to the table, knowing they could be helpful elsewhere too and that he could learn from other participants. He says it was uplifting to be part of the process and for him, it proved that it is truly possible to work in a way where those with lived experience are heard and treated as equal partners.
Overcoming Barriers and Moving Forward
The roadmap launch event was part of WHO/Europe’s ‘Enough waiting: Reshaping mental health care’ webinar series. Discussions at the event acknowledged real challenges including:
Resistance from traditional staff models
Lack of sustainable funding
Unclear professional pathways for lived experience roles
The roadmap directly addresses each of these barriers with actionable solutions.
Thanks to a collaboration between WHO/Europe and the European Commission through the initiative ‘Addressing mental health challenges in the European Union, Iceland and Norway’, countries will receive continued support to implement the roadmap and reshape mental health care with lived experience at its heart. WHO/Europe will pilot the roadmap in select countries over the coming year.
The Future of Mental Health Care Is Human-Centered
The ‘Transforming Mental Health through Lived Experience’ roadmap represents a turning point in global mental health care. It recognizes that healing is not just clinical, it’s personal. By valuing and embedding lived experience, mental health systems can become more inclusive, hopeful and empowering for everyone involved.
Amplifying Lived Experience
At La Playa Media and Marketing, we believe in the power of real stories to drive meaningful change. If your organization is working to amplify lived experience, promote mental wellness or transform the way we talk about mental health, we can help you craft and share that message with purpose.
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