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Dr Justin S. Bell is a community psychologist based in the US whose work sits in the intersection between lived experience, research, and system design. Justin studies how those in lived-experience roles are recruited, trained, supported, and too often, undervalued.

In this conversation, Justin talks to Cate about what first drew him to his work and why the working conditions for lived-experience professionals matter just as much as the evidence behind their roles.

He shares what he’s learned from years of researching peer workforces: what helps them thrive, what leads to burnout, and what organisations get wrong when they try to add peer roles without changing the culture.

We explore the state of peer support in the US and Justin reflects on the structural barriers that prevent peer workers from doing the work they’re trained for. Woven through it all is Justin’s belief that recovery isn’t a service, it’s a relationship, and that lived-experience leadership is central to any system that wants to be humane, hopeful and effective.

It’s a conversation about evidence, equity, and designing systems that make recovery possible.

You’ll hear about:

• Justin’s journey into community psychology and recovery research
• The realities of peer workforces in the US and what the data shows
• Working conditions, burnout, boundaries, and sustainability
• What organisations misunderstand about peer roles
• Why evidence alone won’t change systems but culture can
• Lessons from US models that the UK and elsewhere could learn from
• How lived experience reshapes research, practice and leadership
• What gives Justin hope for the future of peer support

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate is joined by Hansa Raja, founder of Holding Space - a peer-led mental health support service created by and for parents.

Hansa’s journey into peer support began when her child experienced serious mental health challenges, at a time when she was also navigating divorce, exhaustion, and fear.  Like many Parent Carers, Hansa felt blamed rather than listened to - referred to parenting courses instead of offered understanding and support.

What changed everything wasn’t a diagnosis or a referral. It was peer support.

In this conversation, Hansa explains how searching for one other parent who understood led her to create a small online space grounded in lived experience. That space grew into Holding Space, a Parent Carer peer support service offering connection, validation, and practical support to carers who often felt left to cope alone.

We explore why peer support for carers works where traditional services can fall short: because it’s relational, non-judgemental, and rooted in shared experience. Hansa talks about the power of being listened to, the importance of early intervention, and why carers’ voices must be taken seriously if we want better mental health outcomes for children and families.

The conversation also looks at the wider system; how parents can sometimes feel pushed to the margins of mental health services, why lived experience can still undervalued, and how peer-led mental health support can sit alongside clinical care rather than often being treated as an afterthought.

At its heart, this is an episode about lived experience mental health and why peer support isn’t “extra”, but essential.

You’ll hear about:

• Hansa’s lived experience as a parent and carer
• Feeling unheard and unsupported by services
• Why peer support mental health approaches work for carers
• How Holding Space grew from one connection into a community
• Early intervention and preventing crisis through peer support
• The emotional toll of caring and why carers need support too
• How peer support can empower parents

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

The Parent Lounge:

The Parent Lounge is an online community for parents/carers who are navigating life with children and young people of any age.
  
It is for anyone who is in a caring role or who is on a journey with their child’s emotional and/or mental health.  It is a safe space to come together, meet others on a similar journey, chat, share, connect and be supported.
 
As the community grows we will build resources and share expertise as well as bring in outside speakers. 

Meetings will be 1x month online via zoom 6-8pm. 

Access to The Parent Longe is via this link https://hansa.systeme.io/membership-sales-page-bbbd298e

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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Alex was first hospitalised at 16 - and spent much of the next eight years in and out of the same psychiatric unit. By the time she was discharged at 24, she was labelled “clinically recovered” but inside, she felt empty, hopeless, and lost.

In this conversation, Alex talks honestly to Cate about the harm she experienced in mental health services, the limits of being treated through diagnosis alone, and what was missing when she needed it most: connection, safety, and people who truly understood.

The turning point didn’t come from another intervention. It came when Alex stepped away from services altogether — and began recovering with the support of family, friends, and, crucially, peer support. People who didn’t try to fix them. People who listened. People who believed them.

We explore how peer support became the foundation of Alex’s recovery and later, her work. From frontline peer roles to leading peer support services, Alex reflects on what it means to carry lived experience into leadership, the risks of burnout, and the importance of being supported as a peer, not just useful to others.

Alex also speaks about parenthood, relapse, and reporting abuse years later - and how peer connection helped them navigate those moments with compassion rather than self-blame.

At its heart, this is a conversation about recovery beyond services — and why peer support isn’t an “add-on”, but the thing that makes healing possible.

You’ll hear about:

• Growing up in psychiatric care - and the harm Alex experienced
• Being “clinically recovered” but emotionally abandoned
• Why leaving services opened the door to real recovery
• What makes peer support different - and why it works
• Using lived experience in peer and leadership roles
• The challenges of peer leadership and protecting your own wellbeing
• Moving from anger to compassion
• A message of hope for anyone who feels beyond help

***CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to sexual abuse/assault, which some listeners may find distressing. Please take care of yourself, and feel free to skip this episode if it's not the right time for you.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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What happens when a car accident stops life in its tracks — leaving you facing pain, uncertainty, and a future you never imagined?

In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with José Argudo — husband, new dad, volunteer, and trauma survivor. Just two weeks into a new job, having recently moved house and with a baby on the way, José’s life changed overnight when he was rear-ended by a van on the motorway. The crash left him not only with a broken back, but with ongoing back and knee injuries, daily pain, and the emotional toll of adjusting to a new reality.

While José didn’t formally access peer support at the time, he came to realise just how vital it could have been — and how much difference it makes to connect with someone who understands. That realisation led him to volunteer with Day One Trauma Support, turning his experience into hope for others.

We discuss:

~What it’s like when sudden trauma collides with everyday life — work, home, and family~Recovery, surviving, and the challenge of learning to live again~Guilt, resilience, and fatherhood in the middle of recovery~Why it can sometimes feel easier to open up to a stranger~The “dual purpose” of peer support — giving something back, and receiving in return~How sharing your story can help you heal, and inspire others along the way

Whether you’re at the start of your recovery, supporting a loved one, or working in health and trauma services — José’s story is a moving reminder of why peer support matters, and how hope can grow even in the hardest of times.

 

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Day Once Trauma Support: https://dayonetrauma.org/

Catastrophic injury, resilience, and the role of Day One Trauma in helping survivors rebuild their lives.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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Debbie brings a rare mix of lived experience, professional insight, and deep empathy to the world of suicide prevention. She became a carer at a time when support was scarce, patchy, and hard to navigate — and those early years shaped her determination to make sure other families aren’t left alone in the dark.

In this conversation, Debbie talks about the emotional reality of caring for someone at risk of suicide: the fear, the responsibility, and the instinct to hold everything together without breaking. She shares how peer support connected her with other carers who “just get it,” and why the Stronger Together project has become such an anchor for people living through the same pressures.

We explore what services often miss — from communication gaps to carers being excluded from decisions — and what needs to change to involve families safely, respectfully, and early. Debbie also reflects on her Churchill Fellowship research, the international models that inspired her, and how much the UK could learn from approaches that genuinely value carers as partners.

And for anyone listening who feels isolated, scared or overwhelmed, Debbie offers a grounded, compassionate message: you are not alone, you are not failing, and support is out there.

 

It’s a conversation about courage, connection, and the power of carers supporting carers.

 

You’ll hear about:

• Debbie’s journey into caring — and how it reshaped her life

• Why carers’ experiences are vital in suicide prevention

• What Stronger Together offers and why peer spaces matter

• The pressure carers carry, and the relief of talking to someone who understands

• The biggest gaps in how services involve families

• Lessons from Debbie’s international Churchill Fellowship

• Practical advice for carers feeling overwhelmed

• What gives her hope — and keeps her going

 

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Send us a text

Fiona Lobban has spent her life at the intersection of mental health, research, and lived experience. Growing up in the North East, she applied to Oxford “almost on a whim” — and walked straight into a culture shock that left her struggling, isolated, and without support. Her own mental health collapsed during her degree, and she later spent a year working in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Liverpool, witnessing the realities of distress up close.

Fiona eventually returned to Oxford, completed her PhD, and trained as a clinical psychologist — but she carried her lived experience in silence, convinced it would count against her. In this conversation, she talks about the cost of that silence, and how it ultimately shaped her work: clinically, academically, and as a researcher committed to co-designing support with the people who use it.

We explore her work on peer support, from analysing online forums through the iPOF study to co-creating the Library of Lived Experience — a striking project that captures people’s stories in ways traditional research often can’t. Fiona reflects on the conditions that make peer spaces safe and transformative, the misconceptions that still exist, and why services underestimate just how powerful peer-to-peer connection can be.

You’ll also hear her take on what really needs to change in services, how families and peers are too often left out, and what it takes to get policymakers to genuinely listen. And for students or young people who might be where she once was — isolated and unsure where to turn — Fiona offers grounded, compassionate advice.

It’s a conversation about voice, courage, and building systems that finally recognise lived experience as expertise.

You’ll hear about:

• Navigating student mental health in an era with little support

• Why lived experience was something Fiona hid — and later embraced

• What co-designed psychosocial support looks like in practice

• The power and limits of peer support

• Creating the Library of Lived Experience

• Misconceptions, risks, and designing safe online peer spaces

• What needs to shift in policy, practice, and representation

• Why the next generation gives her hope

 

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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Louise Christie leads the Scottish Recovery Network and has spent over a decade shifting power from systems to people with lived experience. She came into mental health from housing, regeneration and social enterprise — an outsider who saw how medicalised services miss what people actually need.

We talk family and identity, and the moment peer support moved from theory to practice. Louise explains how SRN pivoted from being “the experts” to conveners and amplifiers — backing grassroots groups, launching Making Recovery Real in Dundee and Moray, and proving that peer support isn’t a “nice-to-have” but a mechanism for culture change.

You’ll hear the real differences between Scotland and England (and what devolution gets right and wrong), why peer leadership must sit alongside clinical roles, and how to grow a peer workforce without draining community lifeblood. We cover boundaries, stigma, the myth of “treatment-resistant” people, and why relational, values-based practice beats box-ticking every time.

If you care about recovery that’s human, practical, and led by the people who live it — this conversation is for you.

 

You’ll hear about:

• The shift from “fixing people” to listening and empowering
• Making Recovery Real: what changed in Dundee and Moray
• Why peer support changes outcomes and mindsets
• Peer leadership vs entry-level roles — and why the distinction matters
• Scotland vs England: strategy, delivery, and what needs to be operationalised
• Building peer roles with the grassroots, not at their expense
• Boundaries, stigma, and seeing lived experience as an asset

If this resonates, share it with a colleague or commissioner — and start a conversation about peer leadership where you are.

#PeerSupport #LivedExperience #ScottishRecoveryNetwork #MentalHealth #Recovery #CultureChange #NHSScotland #MakingRecoveryReal #Devolution #Workforce

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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Claire Kendall has spent three decades at the BBC and watched the job shift from fast hits to long, immersive reporting. The stories go deeper. So does the emotional load. When she saw that weight landing on reporters — and on the people they film — Claire helped build a peer support network that now counts 300 trained volunteers across the organisation.

In this conversation we talk about duty of care, boundaries, and what “looking after your contributors” really requires when stories run for months. Claire shares why a simple check-in can stop a crisis, how time-limited, confidential conversations (usually up to three) give colleagues space to breathe, and why “you can’t pour from an empty cup” isn’t a cliché — it’s policy.

We hear the moment she first saw peer support in action on a mother-and-baby unit for postpartum psychosis — and how that experience sparked a model the BBC could scale: trained volunteers, coordinators, supervision, signposting, and real stop-gaps to prevent burnout.

Claire also explains what younger journalists are asking for, the role of positive psychology in everyday wellbeing, and why clear boundaries (not late-night texts) protect both truth-telling and mental health.

If you work in news, documentaries, or any high-pressure team, this one is practical and hopeful: peer support makes the work better — and keeps people well.

You’ll hear about:

• The shift from fast news to documentary-level access and its hidden toll
• Building a 300-volunteer peer support network: training, matching, supervision, data
• Boundaries that protect contributors and journalists
• Why short, confidential, structured chats often beat “open-ended support”
• How positive psychology and small habits (sleep, food, movement) change outcomes
• What good workplace wellbeing looks like when budgets are tight

If this helped, share it with your newsroom or HR lead — and start the conversation about peer support where you work.

#PeerSupport #Journalism #WorkplaceWellbeing #MentalHealthAtWork #BBC #Documentary #Burnout #Boundaries #PositivePsychology

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Send us a text

When Rob lost his arm in a motorbike crash — and was left fighting to save his leg and shoulder — and Cat nearly lost her leg while out running, neither imagined their recoveries would become intertwined.

In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Rob Hope and Cat Neill, two survivors of catastrophic injury whose lives were transformed by the power of peer support.

 

Rob faced months of vulnerability and adaptation after his accident. Cat spent five months in hospital and endured nine limb-saving surgeries. Both discovered Day One Trauma — a charity that helps anyone affected by major physical trauma rebuild their life — and it was there that their paths crossed.

 

Rob became Cat’s peer supporter, offering honesty, flexibility, and lived experience at the moment she needed it most. Their story is one of survival, connection, and the extraordinary difference peer support can make when medical care alone is not enough.

 

We discuss:

• What it feels like to face life-changing injury overnight

• The role of Day One Trauma in recovery and rebuilding lives

• How peer support creates hope when everything else feels lost

• Rob’s journey from trauma survivor to peer supporter

• Cat’s “why not me?” mindset and the resilience it sparked

• Life after trauma — mountains climbed, milestones reached, and lessons learned

 

Whether you’re navigating recovery yourself, supporting a loved one, or working in healthcare, Rob and Cat’s story is an inspiring reminder that no one should face trauma alone.

 

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Day Once Trauma Support: https://dayonetrauma.org/

 

Catastrophic injury, resilience, and the role of Day One Trauma in helping survivors rebuild their lives.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

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What happens when your life changes in an instant — and nothing feels familiar anymore?

In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Emily Sole, a trade union professional, trainer, and peer support volunteer, about her ongoing recovery following a catastrophic head-on collision in early 2024. Left with life-threatening injuries and facing a long, uncertain road ahead, Emily discovered the power of one-to-one peer support through Day One Trauma Support, a charity that helps people rebuild their lives after major physical trauma.

Emily opens up about how peer support gave her a place to belong at a time when she no longer recognised her own life. She shares how drawing on her professional skills in mentoring, coaching and advocacy helped her reconnect with her sense of identity, and how volunteering has become a vital part of her healing journey.

We discuss:

~The emotional and physical reality of surviving a traumatic injury

~How isolation and identity loss affect recovery

~Why peer support made the difference when everything else felt overwhelming

~Finding purpose and value after trauma

~What it means to be “at the beginning” of rebuilding your life

~The importance of connection, honesty — and small “glimmers” of hope

Whether you’re navigating recovery, supporting someone through trauma, or working in health or care services — this episode offers raw insight, resilience, and a powerful reminder of why peer support matters.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes & resources:

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk

Day One Trauma Support: https://dayonetrauma.org/

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk