This eLearning course explores lived experience, meaningful involvement and co-production within mental health services. It is designed for health and social care workers, peer support workers, managers, commissioners and others involved in planning, delivering or improving mental health support.
This free course explains key terminology, the difference between consultation and genuine co-production, the influence of power and accessibility, and the distinctive contribution of peer support. It also considers shared decision making, service design, professional boundaries, Mental Health Act responsibilities and current NHS, NICE and CQC expectations for involvement in England.
Why Take This eLearning Course?
Meaningful involvement can help services make better use of people’s experience while ensuring professional and organisational responsibilities remain clear. This course provides practical knowledge for involving people respectfully, sharing influence appropriately and recognising when participation risks becoming tokenistic.
This course will help you to:
- Understand how lived experience can complement professional expertise.
- Recognise the difference between consultation, engagement, co-design and co-production.
- Identify signs of tokenistic involvement and strengthen meaningful participation.
- Consider how power, accessibility and representation affect people’s ability to contribute.
- Support the inclusion of a wider range of voices in mental health services.
- Understand the distinctive purpose of peer support roles.
- Apply appropriate boundaries when lived experience is used within support relationships.
- Strengthen shared decision making at individual and service levels.
- Improve how decisions and outcomes are communicated back to contributors.
- Reflect on how your role can support more inclusive and influential participation.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Define lived experience, involvement, participation and co-production.
- Distinguish consultation from approaches that offer greater shared influence.
- Identify characteristics of tokenistic and meaningful involvement.
- Explain the value of expertise gained through personal experience.
- Describe principles that support accessible and equitable co-production.
- Explain how power and decision-making authority can affect involvement.
- Describe the purpose, contribution and boundaries of peer support roles.
- Identify opportunities to embed co-production throughout mental health services.
- Explain how shared decision making and involvement operate alongside professional and legal responsibilities.
- Identify practical actions and reflective questions that can improve co-production.
Lived Experience and Co-Production in Mental Health Course Outline
The course is organised into six modules, progressing from the foundations of lived experience and co-production through to peer support, service design, shared decision making, professional responsibilities and practical improvement.
Module 1: Understanding Lived Experience and Co-Production
Learners will explore the meaning of lived and living experience, experts by experience, service user involvement, participation and co-production, including the importance of respectful terminology. The module distinguishes consultation from co-design and co-production by considering the level of influence people have over decisions. Learners will identify features of tokenistic participation and meaningful involvement, including early engagement, accessible information and clear feedback. The module also examines how first-hand experience of mental distress, recovery and service use can contribute knowledge that complements clinical, operational and professional expertise.
Module 2: Principles, Power and Inclusive Participation
Learners will examine the principles that support good co-production, including equality, diversity, accessibility, recognition and ongoing review. They will consider how professional status, formal authority, control of resources, access to information and final decision-making power can affect participation. The module explores practical approaches for reaching beyond established involvement groups and removing barriers connected with communication, disability, language, caring responsibilities, expenses and digital exclusion. Learners will also examine the NSUN 4Pi approach through its five prompts: Principles, Purpose, Presence, Process and Impact.
Module 3: Peer Support and the Use of Lived Experience
Learners will explore the role of peer support workers and how relevant shared experience can be used intentionally to support mutual understanding, hope and recovery without replacing clinical intervention. The module considers the distinctive contribution peer workers can make to individual support, teams and service discussions. It distinguishes employed peer roles from volunteering, advocacy, clinical roles and other staff who may have personal experience of mental distress. Learners will also consider purposeful self-disclosure, confidentiality, supervision, emotional wellbeing and other boundaries that help lived experience to be used safely and appropriately.
Module 4: Co-Production in Mental Health Service Design
Learners will examine opportunities to involve people throughout the planning, design, delivery, evaluation and improvement of mental health services. Examples include community pathways, inpatient environments, voluntary sector peer services, commissioning specifications and staff learning. The module explains how to establish shared decision-making arrangements by agreeing the purpose of a project, involving people early, providing accessible information, clarifying authority and allowing constructive challenge. Learners will also consider how to close the feedback loop by explaining what changed, what could not change and the reasons behind final decisions.
Module 5: Meaningful Involvement, Shared Decisions and Service Expectations
Learners will consider potential benefits of meaningful involvement for service relevance, accessibility and people’s sense of influence while recognising the limits of the available evidence. The module connects involvement with shared decision making about individual care, including the importance of preferences, understandable information and joint discussion. It also examines how involvement may contribute to wider approaches intended to reduce coercive practice without assuming that co-production alone causes reductions in restraint, seclusion or compulsory treatment. Learners will explore expectations described by NHS England, NICE and the Care Quality Commission in relation to participation, person-centred care, feedback and service improvement.
Module 6: Applying Co-Production in Professional Practice
Learners will identify practical actions that frontline workers, peer workers, managers and commissioners can take to strengthen co-production within their areas of responsibility. The module examines the balance between shared influence and responsibilities that remain with professionals or organisations, including safeguarding, clinical accountability, information governance and legal requirements. Learners will consider how involvement and shared decision making can continue alongside Mental Health Act responsibilities, including the Mental Health Act 1983 and reforms introduced through the Mental Health Act 2025 as provisions are commenced. The course concludes with reflective questions about power, representation, support, participation and impact that teams can use to improve future involvement.
Target Audience
This course is suitable for:
- Mental health and social care professionals.
- Peer support workers and people working in designated lived experience roles.
- Service managers and team leaders.
- Commissioners and staff involved in service development.
- Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector workers.
- Staff involved in quality improvement, engagement or participation work.
No previous specialist knowledge is required.
FAQ
Who is this course suitable for?
The course is suitable for people involved in delivering, managing, commissioning or improving mental health services, including frontline professionals, peer support workers, managers and staff responsible for involvement or service development.
Do I need any previous experience?
No. The course introduces the key principles and terminology before exploring their practical application. It can support learners who are new to co-production as well as those who already contribute to involvement activities.
What will I learn on this lived experience and co-production course?
You will learn about meaningful involvement, co-production, shared power, accessibility, peer support, service design, shared decision making and professional boundaries. You will also consider how to recognise tokenistic participation and improve the influence people have over appropriate decisions.
Will this course help with day-to-day practice?
Yes. The course provides practical ways to involve people earlier, improve accessibility, clarify decision-making authority, support different routes to participation and explain how people’s contributions influenced outcomes.
Does the course cover practical skills?
The course focuses on practical approaches rather than clinical skills. These include planning inclusive involvement, recognising barriers, sharing decisions appropriately, using lived experience purposefully, maintaining peer boundaries and closing the feedback loop.
Does it cover relevant responsibilities and good practice?
Yes. The course considers professional and organisational accountability alongside co-production, including safeguarding, legal responsibilities, clinical accountability and information governance. It also covers involvement alongside Mental Health Act responsibilities and expectations described by NHS England, NICE and the CQC.
Can co-production be used when an organisation retains final responsibility?
Yes. Some legal, clinical and organisational decisions must remain with authorised people or bodies. Meaningful co-production depends on being clear about these boundaries while sharing influence wherever genuine opportunities exist.
How long does the course take?
The course is self-paced and usually takes around 1 hour to complete.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. A certificate is issued after successful completion.
Understanding lived experience and co-production can support mental health services to create more respectful, inclusive and transparent ways of working with the people and communities they serve. This course provides a structured introduction to the principles, responsibilities and practical approaches that can help involvement lead to genuine influence.
Enrol now to build your understanding of lived experience and co-production in mental health.
