Mentally ill people are very rarely listened to because people don’t think they have a valid or useful opinion.

We get mentally ill people to talk about their lives and experiences and then simply listen to what they have to say.

This helps mentally ill people articulate themselves and helps them to realise that they have rights which should be respected.

Life stories also help our research process by giving us an insight into the terrible suffering of mentally ill people in the programmes we work in. They provide first hand accounts of the situation that mentally ill people have to face. Life stories are presented back to communities as part of the process of participatory data analysis >>

We also listen to mentally ill people in consultation meetings. Here, we consult with mentally ill people and their communities about the problems that they face and how we can help them. The product of these meetings go back to inform our research process. Read more about how we consult mentally ill people here >>