| Summary: | This commentary examines six of my publications, which collectively create an innovative strategy of learning. It is concerned with engaging mental health practitioners and learners more fully with service user lived experience through guided exposure to selected media narratives. The primary intention of this is to facilitate attitudinal change amongst health care professionals, promoting a greater sense of understanding and connectedness with those experiencing mental health difficulties. My learning strategy is concerned with the following elements: The media narrative Facilitation / guided learning Reflective practice Collaborative learning / co-production The media narrative as a learning resource is critically reviewed and gauged to have huge learning potential where facilitative input is offered at distinct stages of access: before, during and after. It is demonstrated that through engaging with this process over a succession of cycles the development of reflective and reflexive practitioners can be promoted. An essential part of my learning strategy concerns the ‘testing out’ of learning, undertaken through a collaborative inquiry process with service users in practice as well as classroom settings. This fosters empathic understanding, an essential component of professional practice. 9 My learning strategy contributes significantly to the existing knowledge and practice base concerning the educational use of media narratives, service user engagement and lived experience learning. It has much to offer in terms of promoting empathic understanding and emotional intelligence, developing reflective practitioners and creating closer working partnerships with service users. The impact from my work has been verified through widespread adoption of my teaching resources, complimentary reviews, numerous citations, and invitations to present at conferences and community workshops. Future directions involve furthering my collaborative engagement with service users and engaging in coproduction work, as well as facilitating narrative sharing amongst those with communicative restrictions, and extending the educative process beyond the healthcare arena, influencing attitudes through encouraging dialogue and reflection around mental health experience.
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