From social worker to expert by experience

Rebecca Regler, one of our Lived Experience Partners, graduated in social work nine years ago.

After becoming an enthusiastic newly qualified social worker, she sadly became very unwell and was left disabled.

Her life was turned upside down. Experiencing chronic pain, severe fatigue, and frequent joint dislocations, she became a wheelchair user and was no longer well enough to work.

Looking back, she explains,

“When I was training at university, I didn’t envisage that instead of working as a social worker I would end up needing one myself.

“However, I knew that anyone could become a service user at any time in their life and that there is no binary divide of ‘them and us’.

Finding a new direction 

In an article written for the British Journal of Social Work, Rebecca reflects on her journey from her role as a social worker to a service user and finally now, an expert by experience.

She shares the grief she felt for her “old life” and how different everything was on the personal rather than professional side:

“I was sent a fifty-page form to complete about my disability and despite being familiar with the form [having helped many service users before], I found it emotionally confronting to document all the things that had changed in my life and to share this during the assessment.

“What struck me about becoming a service user was that it wasn’t the theories or the interventions that I came away remembering, it was the felt experience.

“Did I feel heard? Did I feel cared for? Did I feel empathy?”

Read her full article on the British Journal of Social Work

Valued member of our Lived Experience Partnership 

Rebecca has been a member of our Lived Experience Partnership since 2019.

In that time, she’s contributed to a wide range of work: supporting assessments for our trainees, inputting into consultations and reviews of our charity’s work, and interviewing potential head office staff members.

Helping bring a lived experience perspective to our work and the flagship programme, Rebecca has always brought a passion and thoughtfulness to the role.