Steps Towards “putting Recovery at the Heart of All We Do”: Workforce Development and the Contribution of “lived Experience”

PurposeThis paper aims to describe a review and overview of the issue of developing guidance on implementing recovery and supporting organisational change, focused specifically on seeking to clarify the many different contributions that “lived experience” could make to training and workforce development.Design/methodology/approachThe particular focus of our workshop was to clarify the key issues in workforce development, training for a recovery‐focused service and the contribution of “lived experience”. A particular outcome was to emphasise the benefits of collaborative co‐working between people who use services and practitioners at all levels.FindingsA key element of our learning has been in valuing collaborative co‐working and the synergism of personal experience, professional training, research and evaluation.Originality/valueThe paper draws out what lessons have been learned already and sketches guidance for future practice and service development.