New National Lived Experience Awareness Day Launched

Today marked the launch of a new National Lived Experience Awareness Day, bringing together agencies and organisations to highlight the value of lived experience in improving, designing, and delivering health and other public services.  The voices and experiences of people with lived experience should be at the core of how services are designed and delivered.

The day was led by the HSE, with the support of the Department of Health, and in collaboration with the Strengthening Lived Experience Programme (a partnership between the HSE, Genio, and the Housing Agency). National Lived Experience Awareness Day will be marked annually on 15 October from now on.

Lived experience expertise is the unique wisdom gained through directly experiencing and rebuilding one’s life when faced with significant challenges — such as mental health difficulties, social exclusion, disability, or homelessness. While everyone experiences adversity, lived experience expertise comes from navigating life-changing challenges and using that insight to shape better services.

The National Lived Experience Awareness Day recognises, celebrates, and promotes this expertise across health, social, and housing services.

All departments, organisations, and programmes are encouraged to promote lived experience expertise in their work. They are urged to:

• make the voices and experiences of people with lived experience a core part of how services are designed and delivered
• build on or begin new ways of including lived experience in service activities and decision-making
• work together to make services stronger, more inclusive, and more effective.

Mary Butler, TD, Government Chief Whip and Minister for Mental Health, said: “I am very pleased to be launching the Lived Experience Awareness Day today as I firmly believe in the power of lived and living experience to improve policy and services. We've seen the benefits of including expertise by experience and peer support across a range of mental health services over the past decade. I truly believe that every Government policy and State-provided service would benefit from a similar focus on co-design and meaningful inclusion of lived experience. I hope the Lived Experience Awareness Day will kick-start the spread of the good practice we are seeing in mental health into other public policy domains and public services."

Michael Ryan, Head of Mental Health Engagement and Recovery, HSE, said: “Lived and Living Experience is about the authentic voice of the person. It is the story of what happened to the person, not what is wrong with them. When we accept and understand those stories, it becomes a powerful piece of knowledge that can transform systems attitudes and above all people’s lives for the better. The value of this expertise is now firmly recognised within contemporary mental health, social and housing services. Over the past eight years, Mental Health Engagement has been an invaluable resource in bringing that experience into service improvement and new recovery innovation within our mental health services.”

Joe Ryan, National Director, Public Involvement, Culture and Risk Management, HSE, said: “This day will inspire and encourage even more engagement and involvement across our services. It offers new opportunities to highlight the vital lived experience perspectives that help to make our services work well. A day like this recognises the expertise of our lived experience board members, patient and service user partners and our emerging Regional Patient and Service User Councils.

“Importantly, this day highlights the value and expertise of lived experience as an equal and essential partner in health and other services alongside its clinical, social, and community partners. I look forward to seeing this day evolve in the coming years, in the knowledge of the relationship and trust building it will incur and the evidence it will produce.”

Maggie McDonagh, Coordinator, Primary Traveller Health Project, Balbriggan, said: “It’s vital to recognise the importance of Lived Experience. I draw on my own Lived Experience to design and deliver cultural awareness training for services such as schools, the HSE, and Tusla to name a few. This training helps staff within these services to understand the realities of Traveller life and how to support Traveller families in a culturally competent and appropriate way. Many Travellers live in isolated areas without access to public transport; they want to engage with services but may miss appointments due to this or feel hesitant to return after negative past experiences. By sharing my Lived Experience, I help bridge the gap between services and the Traveller community, fostering understanding, trust, and meaningful inclusion.”

Joe Doyle, National Lead, HSE Social Inclusion, said: “Lived Experience Awareness Day is about making sure everyone’s voice counts, especially those who are traditionally unheard in policy, services or public debate. Across this work, there is a strong understanding that people with lived experience are key partners in designing and delivering services. This day provides an opportunity to highlight the importance and value of meaningfully engaging people who face significant barriers and inequalities, and whose views are least likely to be heard.”

Keep an eye out for videos from National Lived Experience Awareness Day 2025 on:

YouTube: HSE Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Ireland

MHER LinkedIn: Mental Health Engagement and Recovery

HSE Patient and Service User Engagement | LinkedIn