Lived Experience language is everywhere these days, from titles to resume’ descriptions. However, when it comes to “practicing” one’s lived experience in professional settings, many remain uncertain about the available and unfolding options.

Where professional titles often come with credibility and respect, those leading from lived experience can encounter the counter side. A side where stigma and incredibility limit professional options and authority. While these spaces are expanding and those of us with lived-living experiences are learning to operate, many are still haplessly navigating this evolving professional terrain.

We haven’t had the language to explain why Lived-Living Experience should be at the table in every professional setting, and we haven’t intentionally created professional systems to support this expertise. Both of which diminish what lived-living experience should be adding to everyday working conversations and outcomes. Professional standards provide the basis of value. Understanding how lived experience can be employed helps expand opportunities and refine LE expertise in practical AND impactful ways.

This post briefly explores the emerging roles or activities that those with lived-living experiences might find themselves interested in participating in by outlining the general categories and activities that fall under each.

Lived-living experience work is embedded across established fields like that of the disability space, unhoused space, interpersonal violence, mental health, substance use, or recovery, and more. These major fields further determine and influence the lived-living experience movements and activities based on the communities that are centered or served. This means that while major activity categories, such as research or service delivery, may appear similar across fields, the details can be quite different. So, keep the categories in mind, but know that depending on which field they fall under, there may be some distinctions in operations, engagement, and outcomes.

Research whether empirically-driven or community-driven approaches can employ and engage individuals with lived-living experiences (L-LE) in each of the activity and process phases. Individuals with lived-living experiences could be the principal researchers who determine, develop, or drive the work. L-LE researchers are more commonly employing “position statements,” which outline their personal experiences and ties to the subject matter. These statements help readers and peers understand the life-world knowledge the researchers bring to the work while also outlining potential bias that could affect the studies.

L-LE individuals have acted as participants, informants, interviewees, and subjects since the beginning of empirical studies. Today, these L-LE individuals might find that some researchers engage their input and feedback across the project’s lifecycle. Where traditional studies may have sought interview data or the like, today’s work might incorporate the (L-LE person’s thoughts on how their content reflects the intended meaning. Individuals might also be included in initial or final study drafts before researchers submit the work for publication. L-LE interviewees might be invited to help co-evaluate data, provide additional input or thought on the data interpretation, and even participate in sharing the findings. This work transitions L-LE individuals from one-off data points to more involved partners who help ensure the work best reflects their intentions and experiences.

Resources are the countless tools, products, and content that offer information, enhance service, or address a specific need. In resource-centered activities and efforts, L-LE individuals should be engaged throughout every step of the process. While this might cause concern for some organizations regarding timelines or funding, the intentional inclusion of L-LE persons reinforces the work and provides often-missed insights that are better caught on the front end of development.

L-LE individuals can help in the identification of need, ensuring needs are adequately taken into consideration, and based on real-world and anecdotal experiences. These partners can help by identifying common challenges and collaborating on problem-solving, so the outcomes are achieved most effectively. L-LE professionals or persons should help to develop guidance for technical team members that incorporates language, community perspectives, and interpersonal aspects to increase the likelihood that tools will be accessed and used by the intended audiences.

When L-LE individuals hold formal leadership roles, they decrease unnecessary conflict and help limit potential gaps between resource ideation and implementation. Similar to research, L-LE individuals can assist or drive the evaluation and refinement of resources. This is best done by engaging their community networks and gathering formal or informal feedback through field testing to determine if the product needs minor tweaks or even a complete overhaul. By incorporating L-LE persons in the development, delivery, feedback, and refinement of products and content, an organization demonstrates its commitment to both strategy and results.

Services cover the fields where professional interpersonal-based actions take place. These include assistance, advice-centered work, aid-specific offerings, and more. In service-oriented spaces, L-LE persons can act similarly to the resource-centered ones. Additionally, individuals with L-LE can offer or provide socially based interactions and interventions. Currently, we see the most movement in the peer workforces across fields when it comes to professional services, but this is one of many role types where L-LE persons can get involved. L-LE professionals can include all levels of expertise and skills, from independent consultants to highly sought-after subject matter experts. These services incorporate the life-world knowledge and relevant practical applications that L-LE individuals have to offer, and do not center on personal narratives or “storytelling” practices commonly associated with L-LE professionals.

Advocacy activities incorporate personal testimony that supports or works within systems to bolster or change policy or make recommendations. Advocacy actions can occur at the community, organizational, or systems levels and commonly include or center on personal narratives from individuals with L-LE. These L-LE individuals might share personal stories and experiences with the hope of using real-life stories to drive change, awareness, or seek improvements. Many organizations in the public non-profit spaces employ advocacy efforts that are built from personal narratives. These actions can also include fundraising or development activities that employ or promote “stories” to support services or resources the organization provides.

Activism is similar to advocacy but varies in that the testimony more often challenges political or social systems, campaigning to shift or disrupt harmful social norms. L-LE activists are often viewed as experts who have practical knowledge or expertise within their respective fields and drive systems-level improvements. Where advocates may be vocal from a personal experiential perspective for specific causes, organizations, or time-limited activities, activists represent an ongoing coordinated investment in a cause.

Education is the structured knowledge transfer guided by best practice or evidence-informed approaches/content in the forms of training, program delivery, and systematic instruction. Education incorporates formal learning processes and practices to inform and improve knowledge on specific topics. L-LE persons may be involved in the development of educational information, providing experientially-based information or insights. L-LE persons can also be involved in the delivery or implementation of programs, either as individuals with L-LE or as formal instructors, provided they have the necessary training and qualifications. Educational efforts can fall under the resource or service categories depending on the delivery methods and approaches for sharing the information.

Awareness is a broad outreach to influence public perception through social promotion, storytelling, campaigns, or public speaking. Awareness shares similarities and overlaps with the educational space, but is not necessarily geared towards providing informed knowledge transfer or improvements. Awareness campaigns often center on the personal narratives of L-LE individuals, whether for advertising or promotional purposes or to strengthen engagement.

Both educational and awareness efforts often access and employ L-LE stories to drive engagement. This time-tested communication practice increases the likelihood that audiences will engage, remember, and support efforts. Those working on these efforts may inform the process, marketing content, act as central story figures, or help in analyzing engagement metrics and data. When L-LE persons share their stories for these activities, they may engage with organizations and professionals who are informed and incorporate current best practices for employing stories, but this is not as common as it should be at this time. L-LE individuals should ensure they maintain agency over their stories when working with others.

By broadening our knowledge of the many roles, activities, and ways people with lived-living experiences can get involved, we make it more likely that these individuals can meaningfully contribute to needed efforts. Peers are a growing and vital workforce across fields, but not everyone is built to be a peer. Similarly, not every person wants to tell their stories. Our fields need to intentionally involve those with L-LE in every type of work across all the fields where people are being supported.