The Library of Lived Experience for Mental Health
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Library of Lived Experience for Mental Health: Developing a programme theory and implementation plan
IRAS ID
305975
Contact name
Fiona Lobban
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
People with lived experiences of mental health difficulties are often best placed to help others.
We will explore how a living library helps people share lived experiences. Here, people are employed as living books, trained and supported to share their experiences in one-to-one conversations. Readers are people seeking to learn about mental health to help themselves, a loved one, or they might be staff. Readers choose a book based on a short author summary. They are encouraged to ask the book about anything they want to understand better. The book tries to help them, drawing on their own experiences, but choosing not to answer if they wish. Books can be employed flexibly allowing a broad range of people to contribute across ethnic, gender, sexuality and age groups, and including those in work or with caring responsibilities.Our aim is to design a living library for mental health in the North of England. Our team includes people with lived experience, staff, and researchers. We will draw together data from living libraries internationally, and interview people who took part in them. We will learn about the effects (positive and negative) on books, and readers, how these came about, and any differences found between libraries. Using this learning, and drawing on expertise from NHS staff, third sector organisations, and lived experience networks, we will co-design a living library for mental health in the North of England. This will be done in a series of workshops (face-to-face and online) using creative methods. People with lived experience have designed the study as part of the research team and will have lead roles in managing the project, facilitating the co-design process and in the Expert Group overseeing the study.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/WM/0269
Date of REC Opinion
29 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion