9
March 2021
Our voices should be key to developing and delivering services that support us
Caroline Butterwick, one of our lived experience partners, discusses how she uses her lived experience to make a difference in a piece for PosAbility Magazine.
She explains:
“For me, one of the unexpected benefits of service user involvement is the chance to take ownership of my narrative.
“I get to tell my story in my own words in a life that has at times been greatly controlled by others.”
The importance of sharing lived experiences
Caroline first began using her lived experience of visual impairment and mental health needs to campaign for change as a student, when she formed a group with other disabled students to campaign for change.
As she rightly explains, “Who better to say how the campus can be made more accessible than those who know the barriers first-hand?”
Now she is encouraging others to do the same.
Read the full article on PosAbility’s website
Contributing to our work
As a member of our Lived Experience Partnership, Caroline actively supports us with various aspects of our work, “helping link lived experience with social work theory”.
One of her highlights of working with us that she shares, was from her contribution to the teaching for our trainee mental health social workers at one of our Summer Institutes.
“It was great to share my experience of what makes a good social worker, as well as highlighting some of the negative sides of my experience as a service user and what needs to be better.
“We all carry our own stories and perspectives, and feedback from the trainees highlights how much they value hearing these.”
Find out more
Caroline has also written another article about her experience of service user involvement for the Wellcome Collection, featuring an interview with the Chair of our Lived Experience Partnership, Oliver Wood. Read it here.