Stories help us to better understand people’s lives and experiences, giving us a depth of insight that you cannot get from service data and figures. The Collaborative has therefore long been committed to hearing and telling the stories of people in Lambeth who have experience of mental health issues.

For the Collaborative, stories act as an important tool not only to share people’s achievements, inspire others on their own journeys and recognise the services, projects, initiatives and people that have helped along the way, but they also serve to flag up where people’s experiences could have been better. In this way, they motivate us all to do more of what is working well and change what isn’t.

Karen Hooper writes many of the stories you will find on our website in collaboration with those who share them, but everyone is encouraged to share news and stories.