"lived experience"

[rampagingrobot]

I keep reading the phrase and it's winding me up!

When did "experience" become "lived experience". Does it actually mean anything different or is it just people trying to be wanky? Is there an "unlived" experience?

YANBU it's a wanky way of saying the same thing.
YABU it means something diffferent. (In which case, what??!!)

Imo it's very wanky

That and "on a journey".🤣 such bull shit, it is like corporate speak but in real life.

Experience - I work with KS1 children between the ages of 5 and 7 so I have experience of these age ranges. Part of my job is delivering SEN interventions and support so I have experience of helping children with disabilities.

Lived experience - I have children of my own who have all passed through the 5-7 age range. Two of my children have disabilities and/or SEN. I have lived experience of these age ranges and issues.

Lived experience simply means direct experience of something happening to you rather than simply having knowledge about that experience.

In the NHS it seems to be used to avoid saying that someone is a patient or is someone diagnosed with whatever it is. Dont know why. Eg meet CurentHun, with lived experience of migraines. It sounds like the social model being inappropriately applied to the medical somehow.

There isn’t a social equivalent of this in common use that I have come across anyway - eg meet CurrentHun who has lived experienced of free school meals or of poor housing etc. That would make more sense to me.

Is there an "unlived" experience?

I think it comes from areas such as medicine where it is useful.

So the "lived experience" of the patient with condition X is different to the doctor's professional experience of condition X. Living with a condition out in the real world with all the challenges of normal life is very different from the professional knowledge in this instance, and it has been useful in these contexts because doctors learn so much from the lived experience of their patients and it makes them far better doctors.

But now has made its way into corporate buzzword bollocks.

Yes agree with PP. So in terms of policy makers (thinking for example Govt) they may have experience dealing with certain things such as deprivation, disability, racism etc. but without having lived it themselves. Hence the importance of engaging people with genuine experience living the theory.

I see your lived experience and raise you an embodied experience, for extra wankiness.

I'm not buying it! I have experience of breaking my arm. I don't need to say "lived experience" of breaking my arm.

A doctor has experience of treating a broken arm.

I don't think it adds anything!

I always thought it was the difference between something like being autistic or having a family member with autism.

My experience of being autistic is something I have lived, my experience of my DCs autism isn't.

Maybe not?

It's not something I say but I just took it to mean that.

I would say that one's so-called 'lived experience' used to be called 'personal experience'.

"Lived experience simply means direct experience of something happening to you rather than simply having knowledge about that experience."

That. I used the phrase on a couple of threads about the newborn phase. I used it in a work capacity. It reminds professionals who are the experts in some areas, as opposed to being qualified. The medical world are experts at ignoring women's lived experience of many conditions.

My sister has experience of alcoholism

I have lived experience of alcoholism as I’m a recovering alcoholic.

thats the type of context I usually see it used in and for where funding for certain projects apply so eg an organisation might want someone with lived experience of alcoholism that’s now in recovery.

not saying I agree with it but that’s usually the type of context I see it in.

But no, I wouldn’t say it’s wanky.

There's a difference between knowing about homelessness because you worked in a shelter or because you lived on the streets. Lived experience is the latter.

It’s used less in the context of things like a broken arm and more in terms of chronic and complex conditions and in particular mental illness. Conditions where one medical diagnosis may affect each individual in a very particular and different way so that their own depiction of their experiences and decisions, as well as the knowledge gained from these experiences and choices, is a very particular personal experience. It’s intended to put the individual rather than the illness at the centre of their care.

It was old hat as a phrase when I first began working in and around mental health services back in 2006, so whilst it may now have become a buzzword for other things, it isn’t new.

It’s bandied around in Social Care a lot e.g a Child Protection Chair will ask the Social Worker what the child’s lived experience is through direct work. Makes sense in that context and it’s a bit of a shorthand.

For me working in mental health I would define it as

Experience - I have had experience of working alongside patients who tell me what withdrawal from drugs feel like and how it impacts them.

Lived experience - Ive experienced and felt every physical and mental symptom from withdrawal/going cold turkey.

This is why Peer Support Workers with lived experience are absolutely essential to the work we do and support we offer and having a lived experience is definitely not a wanky buzzword IMHO

Well, that's semantics really.

But in fields like medicine, lived experience is recognised as the patient's experience, whereas the doctor could have plenty of personal experience also (and much of it very important and useful) but there will be aspects they don't really 'get' as they simply don't have to deal with it.

And I think that's ok BTW. Plenty of doctors maintain a sort of detachment from the illness they specialise in to maintain their own mental health and it helps them do a superb job. But they can't ever truly understand what it is like to live with eg. chronic illness every day, and know that is it for the rest of their life (unless they also have it) and that's where lived experience is another important perspective.

I definitely agree with a PP though that “on a journey” is wanky as all hell, unless you are referring to actually physically travelling somewhere. And even then probably only by steamship.

That's a good explanation if the difference

Ok in professional sense I can see the distinction.

Still think it's wanky on MN though! I keep reading stuff like "I have lived experience of a child waking lots in the night". I mean fucks sake we've all got that 😆

OP - can you see there might be a difference between having experience of something because you’ve worked with people who’ve been through XYZ or have a family member who’s had XYZ or you’ve witnessed XYZ - and the person who’s got/been through XYZ.

it’s a way of explaining if your “experience of XYZ” is something you just know about 2nd hand or 1st hand via “living” with it/through it.

Just because you’ve never been in a situation where it’s been useful to differentiate between people who know about something VS those who’ve been through it, doesn’t mean it’s not useful to others to have a quick and easy way to state the difference.

There’s a difference. I’ve worked in criminal justice so I have long experience of prisons. But I’ve never been a prisoner- those who were have lived experience. It’s an important classification for policy makers in particular to listen to those who know a subject from the inside, not just the official or political perspective. There are lots of examples of wanky jargon usually involving ‘journey’ or ‘care’ (as a suffix) but lived experience isn’t one of them imo.

I work alongside lived experience practitioners (peer support) - its very common in maternity and mental health services. I think it's just a development building from coproduction and recognising the value of a variety of voices and perspectives.