Webinar Details 

In this webinar I will share some of my experiences and challenges as a lived experience leader. I will include reflections on the successes and achievements of a co-production project in which I was recently involved;  I will describe learning from this project which will be of interest to others looking to implement best practice around lived experience involvement. Co-production can be understood as a transformative way of thinking about power, partnerships, and outcomes – and as a therapeutic intervention. It is integral to the provision of safe, change-oriented and person-centred practices, and key to challenging the power differentials within helping relationships. Clinical expertise and evidence-based medicine have been privileged often, and as such frequently monopolise decision-making processes, service design and delivery. This has resulted in an imbalance of power between service providers and services users and carers, and insights and knowledge gained through lived experience have been marginalised and invalidated.

Co-production creates a culture in which all knowledge and expertise is valued, particularly the knowledge and expertise of the people most affected by the problem and the potential solution, in turn leading to more effective and efficient services and interventions.

Relationships make the difference! Successful co-production relies on the strength of the relationships that build through that process, and change happens through relationships.

This webinar is suitable for anyone working within the helping professions, at all levels of training and practice.

About the Speaker

Debbie Frances Msc, lived experience adviser & trainer, specialising in co-production, carer support & suicide prevention

I currently work as a freelance Mental Health Trainer and Lived Experience Adviser, specialising in carer and family involvement, suicide prevention, and co-production.  I am a guest tutor on Exeter and Reading Universities’ CAMHS Inpatient staff training, an Associate at With-You Consultancy facilitating peer support training, and am Co-Chair of the Devon Partnership Trust’s Carer Strategy Implementation Group, and was involved in co-producing their new carer strategy. I also co-designed and co-deliver DPT’s Stronger Together training, which aims to inform, support and empower carers of those affected by suicidal behaviours.  In 2018, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research initiatives that prevent the escalation and recurrence of mental illness in young people, leading to me travelling to Australia and Finland in 2019 and 2020 respectively.  In July 2023, I was awarded an MSc, with Distinction, in Mental Health Recovery & Social Inclusion from the University of Hertfordshire.

• AFT Member £35
• Non-Member £45  
• AFT Student Members £20