In this mini episode of Lived Experience Lounge, we introduce ourselves.

Emma, Danny, and Katie share parts of their personal and professional journeys into mental health work, peer support, and lived experience leadership. We reflect on crisis, recovery, identity, and the messy, ongoing process of making sense of it all.

This isn’t a tidy origin story. It’s a conversation about becoming, questioning, unlearning, and finding belonging in a field that doesn’t always make space for complexity.

We also talk about what we hope this podcast offers: a space for generative conversation, disagreement, curiosity, and permission to explore your own understanding of distress and recovery.

We discuss:

• Our lived experience journeys
• Peer support and recovery work
• Questioning the medical model
• Identity, crisis and “breakthrough” moments
• Learning, unlearning and evolving perspectives
• What we hope listeners take from the podcast
• Why it’s okay not to have all the answers

Lived Experience Lounge is an Imroc podcast hosted by Emma Watson, Danny Bowyer and Katie Mottram. Imroc is a mental health charity based in England focused on transforming systems and communities by centring lived experience. Its work spans peer support, recovery colleges, research and evaluation, community development, and relational approaches to care.

To learn more, visit imroc.org or follow Imroc on LinkedIn.