An open-access learning series developed through the Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship

A global webinar series bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and people with lived experience to advance youth mental health research through meaningful partnerships, shared learning, and knowledge exchange.

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About the Webinar Series

Overview

The Lived Experience Webinar Series is part of the Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship. The series aims to create a platform where researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and people with lived experience can come together to share knowledge and learn from one another.

Through expert presentations and lived experience perspectives, the webinars explore how meaningful engagement can strengthen youth mental health research, implementation, communication, and policy. The series is open to anyone interested in global youth mental health.

Series format Four live webinars, self-paced learning, applied exercises, and a Capstone Project and Showcase.
Delivery Live sessions through Zoom, with recordings and supporting learning materials.
Why Attend?

What You Will Gain

Participants will have the opportunity to:

  • Learn from international experts and people with lived experience.
  • Understand practical approaches to lived experience engagement.
  • Explore real-world examples from mental health research and practice.
  • Recognise the difference between meaningful participation and tokenistic involvement.
  • Develop skills for research, communication, leadership, and systems engagement.
  • Connect with a global network of researchers and practitioners.
  • Access free learning resources and webinar recordings.
  • Apply learning through practical exercises and the Capstone Project.
A note on wellbeing

Some sessions and resources may include discussion of mental health, distress, trauma or personal experiences. You are not required to share personal experiences to participate. Please engage with the material at your own pace and take a break or step away whenever needed.

Upcoming Webinar
Next Webinar

Lived Experience as Expertise: Roles, Ethics and Power

Date & Time To be announced soon.
About the Webinar

Lived experience brings valuable knowledge that can strengthen mental health research, services, and policy. However, meaningful engagement requires more than inviting people to share personal stories.

This webinar will explore why lived experience should be recognised as a form of expertise and how it can contribute alongside academic and clinical knowledge.

Participants will examine the different roles people with lived experience can take across the research lifecycle. The session will also explore power imbalances, tokenism, ethical engagement, safeguarding, personal boundaries, and the support required for safe and meaningful participation.

Learning Objectives
  • Explain why lived experience should be recognised as expertise in mental health research.
  • Identify different lived experience roles across the research lifecycle.
  • Recognise signs of tokenistic and meaningful engagement.
  • Understand common power imbalances in research and decision-making.
  • Reflect on personal boundaries, support needs, and areas of contribution.
  • Understand consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, and the right to withdraw.
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Webinar Archive

Webinar Library

The Webinar Library will serve as a growing repository of completed webinars. Recordings, presentation slides, and additional learning resources can be added after each session.

Webinar 1
Lived Experience as Expertise: Roles, Ethics and Power

Date: To be announced

An introduction to lived experience as expertise in mental health research, including roles, meaningful participation, tokenism, ethics, safeguarding, power, and personal boundaries.

Webinar 2
Co-Design and Participation in Research

Date: To be announced

An exploration of consultation, collaboration, and co-production, and where lived experience contributors can influence the research lifecycle.

Webinar 3
Communication, Narrative and Influence

Date: To be announced

A practical session on communicating with different audiences while protecting authorship, consent, editorial control, and personal boundaries.

Webinar 4
Leadership and Systems Engagement

Date: To be announced

An examination of how mental health systems operate, where lived experience can influence policy and governance, and how visibility differs from genuine influence.

Webinar Resources

Learning Resources

This section provides additional materials shared throughout the webinar series.

  • Webinar recordings.
  • Reading materials and practical guides.
  • Relevant Fellowship learning modules.
Capstone Project and Showcase

Apply Your Learning

The Capstone Project allows fellows to apply learning from all four webinars and produce a practical contribution to the mental health field. Projects will take approximately four to six weeks.

A The Research Reshape

Review and redesign a published mental health study from a lived experience perspective.

B The Public Engagement Piece

Develop a blog, opinion article, video, podcast, or social media campaign.

C The Policy Submission

Prepare a real or simulated submission for a mental health policy or consultation process.

D The Peer Resource

Create a guide, toolkit, explainer, workshop resource, podcast, or annotated reading list.

E The Field Intervention

Design and test a small intervention addressing a gap in lived experience involvement.

The Capstone Project and Showcase described form part of the Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship. If you are accessing this page independently, you are welcome to use the suggested activities for self-directed learning, but participation in the Fellowship Capstone and Showcase is limited to enrolled Fellows.

Meet Our Speakers

Featured Speakers

Meet the facilitators, researchers, practitioners, and lived experience contributors supporting the webinar series.

Ms. Grace Gatera
Lived Experience Expert
Ms. Niharka Maggo
Lived Experience Expert
Dr. Syed Usman Hamdani
Fellowship Director
Global Institute of Human Development (GIHD), Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Pakistan
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Contact

Contact the Webinar Team

For questions regarding the webinar series, registration, accessibility requirements, or technical support, please contact: