About the Role
Project Overview
We want to create community at Mind, we believe that mental health services should never be designed for people without being shaped by people with lived experience. The Lived Experience Network (LEN) at Cornwall Mind shows exactly what’s possible when that belief becomes practice, not principle.
The LEN brings together people whose experiences of mental ill health have become a powerful source of insight and leadership. We have worked alongside NHS colleagues and local providers to turn strategy into meaningful change, helping deliver the NHS 10-Year Plan commitments, bringing partners together, and navigating complex questions about quality and the fair allocation of resources. They’ve done this with integrity, clarity, and an unshakeable belief in what they’re building.
This partnership between Cornwall Mind and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a striking example of what happens when lived experience is treated as expertise, not afterthought. Together, we are demonstrating that when power is shared, care becomes more compassionate, responsive, and effective.
As mental health policy continues to evolve, we hope this approach endures. With mental health now one of the NHS’s six key programme priorities, the LEN is ready to help shape the next phase ensuring that future plans are grounded in what truly matters to the people they serve.
The role is focused on championing the voice of individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health, ensuring their insights shape the design, commissioning, and delivery of health and social care services in Cornwall. A key aim is to embed co-production at the heart of service development, making sure services reflect the real needs and experiences of those who use them.
This position will contribute to building strong connections with communities, particularly those who are seldom heard or marginalised, enabling their perspectives to be included in decision-making processes. The postholder will provide feedback on health and social care proposals informed by lived experience, working collaboratively across systems and organisations to drive meaningful change.
A core aspect of the role involves developing and supporting the Cornwall Mind Lived Experience Network. This includes recruiting, training, and inducting Experts by Experience, and coordinating their involvement in mental health transformation work. The role is part of a multidisciplinary team, working creatively to identify opportunities for improvement and ensuring lived experience remains central to the transformation of mental health services across Cornwall.
Role includes:
Community Engagement
- Build relationships with individuals and community groups
- Promote participation from marginalised/underrepresented communities
- Undertake outreach and engagement to support recruitment of new EBEs
- Develop trusting and inclusive relationships with EBEs, communities and stakeholders
· Support coordinator/Project Lead with project management of events aimed at increasing visibility of LEN and changing partners/communities
Participation & Co-production
- Facilitate lived experience involvement activities
- Support Experts by Experience to contribute safely and confidently, including delivering wellbeing support process.
- Gather feedback and lived experience insight
- Support co-design of services and projects under the guidance of the Coordinator/Project Lead
- Engage with and contribute to national lived experience networks for best practice sharing and shared learning
Group Support and Facilitation
- Facilitate workshops, discussion groups and engagement sessions using principles of trauma-informed and person-centred care
- Deliver training and inductions alongside colleagues, including partners and NHS staff
- Encourage inclusive and psychologically safe participation
- Support EBEs to safely and confidently engage with the work, addressing wellbeing concerns in line with competence and limits of professional scope, signposting and referring as appropriate
- Respond to EBE enquiries that cannot be fielded by the Administration function
Partnership Working
- Work alongside NHS and VCSE organisations
- Attend local engagement meetings with/on behalf of the Coordinator/Project Lead
- Contribute lived experience perspectives to transformation work
Project management/administration
- Maintain project records
- Contribute to development of project management infrastructure to support overall effectiveness and planning
- Contribute to the development of new projects including developing briefs, defines objectives and scoping the involvement potential
- Contribute to the maintenance of a policy framework that support the LEN as it develops and aligns with mandatory and best practice for the sector
Insight & Feedback
- Capture themes and experiences from engagement activity, presenting in a way that is engaging for the audience
- Feedback outcomes to the Coordinator/Project Lead and wider partners
- Support evaluation and learning
Pay: £14.45 per hour
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Bodmin (Cornwall)
