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"The strong emphasis on SUAC involvement in interviews helped me to decide that Leeds was a course that really matched with my values as a psychologist. In terms of teaching, service user and carer involvement adds richness, depth and a value to training that no amount of reading or lectures could quite manage. As a trainee, having a safe space to explore service user and carer experiences during teaching has allowed me to ask the questions they might previously have been apprehensive to ask, and develop confidence in my clinical work. Genuine, collaborative and meaningful SUAC involvement has helped me as a trainee to develop according to my values, and is shaping the psychologist that I aspire to be." Charlotte

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For all the good words on co-production, there is still a big reluctance to actually put this into practice at national level and on individual programmes.  EBEs do not want to take over;  we only want the full recognition, in real and working terms, that we have a unique perspective into mental health conditions, and that we should be allowed a full voice to reveal that perspective.  We only want a small part, and the more you use us, the more you will see you can trust us, see what we can offer.  It is natural for you to want to control things, and allowing an EBE a free voice can be seen to be losing control to someone who is not a professional, but you can always talk through with us what we are going to say, to reassure yourselves.  We are here to help, not threaten.

# data[].attributes.subject
For all the good words on co-production, there is still a big reluctance to actually put this into practice at national level and on individual programmes.  EBEs do not want to take over;  we only want the full recognition, in real and working terms, that we have a unique perspective into mental health conditions, and that we should be allowed a full voice to reveal that perspective.  We only want a small part, and the more you use us, the more you will see you can trust us, see what we can offer.  It is natural for you to want to control things, and allowing an EBE a free voice can be seen to be losing control to someone who is not a professional, but you can always talk through with us what we are going to say, to reassure yourselves.  We are here to help, not threaten.

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Robert, service user, Nottingham

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What is co-production in reality?  It is using EBEs to provide that vital first hand perspective into mental health conditions and the treatment of them. If, for example, you are delivering a day's teaching session on OCD or other anxiety disorders, you can use an EBE with first hand knowledge of the devastating and tragic effects anxiety disorders have on individuals, relationships and families; or in a session on depression you have someone there who can talk with clarity on the intense bleakness and abandonment of that condition; or if you want someone who is the living embodiment of the veracity of attachment theory, and who can describe first hand how attachment is the fundamental building block of mental health, and the absence of it the fundamental cause of a range of mental health problems, you can use an EBE who can speak about how that works in reality;  or if you want to know what makes a good or a bad therapist, you have an EBE who can give you that perspective.  Co-production means that an EBE is integrated into the teaching programme, or gives advice behind the scenes on a subject area - has somewhere an integrated input into the programme, giving a vital, living aspect to a subject. We are EBEs, and for what it costs to use us on a programme, we might as well be freebies. It is not rocket science. 

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What is co-production in reality?  It is using EBEs to provide that vital first hand perspective into mental health conditions and the treatment of them. If, for example, you are delivering a day's teaching session on OCD or other anxiety disorders, you can use an EBE with first hand knowledge of the devastating and tragic effects anxiety disorders have on individuals, relationships and families; or in a session on depression you have someone there who can talk with clarity on the intense bleakness and abandonment of that condition; or if you want someone who is the living embodiment of the veracity of attachment theory, and who can describe first hand how attachment is the fundamental building block of mental health, and the absence of it the fundamental cause of a range of mental health problems, you can use an EBE who can speak about how that works in reality;  or if you want to know what makes a good or a bad therapist, you have an EBE who can give you that perspective.  Co-production means that an EBE is integrated into the teaching programme, or gives advice behind the scenes on a subject area - has somewhere an integrated input into the programme, giving a vital, living aspect to a subject. We are EBEs, and for what it costs to use us on a programme, we might as well be freebies. It is not rocket science. 

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Robert, service user, Nottingham

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Of course EBEs are not your equals in terms of Psychology degrees, MScs or MAs, or Doctorates or any academic aspects of psychology, and we certainly do not understand your jargon;  we do not know all the things you know and we do not pretend we do.  But we know something you do not know: we know what it is like to live through the conditions you are wanting to teach about and treat effectively.  We could not do your jobs, but we can provide a vital missing element to your teaching through having experienced mental health conditions and by being able now to talk about them, either to tutors or trainees or both.  

# data[].attributes.subject
Of course EBEs are not your equals in terms of Psychology degrees, MScs or MAs, or Doctorates or any academic aspects of psychology, and we certainly do not understand your jargon;  we do not know all the things you know and we do not pretend we do.  But we know something you do not know: we know what it is like to live through the conditions you are wanting to teach about and treat effectively.  We could not do your jobs, but we can provide a vital missing element to your teaching through having experienced mental health conditions and by being able now to talk about them, either to tutors or trainees or both.  

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Robert, service user, Nottingham

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 Psychology and all science are founded on empirical evidence, but it is the case that unless you are a psychologist who has experienced mental health problems yourself, you only have text book evidence, and second hand evidence from listening to your clients.  Service users can provide the living, walking, talking evidence of first hand experience for you and your trainees.  We are the missing link between theory and reality.

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 Psychology and all science are founded on empirical evidence, but it is the case that unless you are a psychologist who has experienced mental health problems yourself, you only have text book evidence, and second hand evidence from listening to your clients.  Service users can provide the living, walking, talking evidence of first hand experience for you and your trainees.  We are the missing link between theory and reality.

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Robert, service user, Nottingham

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The difference between mental health and mental illness lies in the presence of easily identifiable and quantifiable qualities, and it is these which must be addressed if healing is to take place.  These qualities are:  understanding, empathy, acceptance and kindness;  security, fulfilment, compassion and forgiveness.  It is the absence of these in a person's life which is causing the problems, and to this end I have found that compassion focused therapy (CFT) is the most direct and effective way of creating and providing healing for these deficiencies.
Robert, service user, Nottingham

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 Working with psychological conditions is your vocation; living with psychological conditions is our life.  You can see the effects of mental health conditions, but you cannot see these conditions themselves.  What EBEs have experienced is seeing mental health conditions from the inside and we can talk about that: EBEs make visible that which is invisible.   Robert, service user, Nottingham

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 Working with psychological conditions is your vocation; living with psychological conditions is our life.  You can see the effects of mental health conditions, but you cannot see these conditions themselves.  What EBEs have experienced is seeing mental health conditions from the inside and we can talk about that: EBEs make visible that which is invisible.   Robert, service user, Nottingham

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being involved keeps me on my toes in terms of challenging my practice as a trainer and professional who seeks to enable but can sometimes lose her way

Michele (Queen's University Belfast)