Spotlight on: Lived experience helping medical students' understanding of substance use

Our Central London drug and alcohol service has developed a 90-minute, peer-led interactive workshop for trainee medics and paramedics.

It aims to help them understand more about substance use and dependency from the perspective of people with lived experience.

The workshops - provided at University College London and St Georges Hospital - are delivered collaboratively, with peer mentors and service users telling their unique stories in their own way.

They hope to make sure the next generation of healthcare professionals are well informed around substance use challenges, particularly the human aspects – and the many factors that can influence someone’s experiences.

Two or three people share their stories with the group at each session – providing powerful testimonies about the reality of living with challenging drug and alcohol use. There is also a Q&A opportunity for students to ask more about the experiences they have just heard – often providing an opportunity to challenge perceptions and associated stigma.

New peers who would like to share their story are invited to observe a workshop before they do so and are helped to plan how, and what they wish to share in future sessions. They are supported by the lead coordinator - who is a peer mentor - before and after each session to brief and de-brief on the experience.

The initiative is fully co-ordinated and delivered by peers - creating a real sense of ownership. Those involved report their involvement reinforces and supports their own recovery, and they feel they are having an impact on the understanding students have, and on future good practice in healthcare. Sharing their experiences in this way means they feel their voices are not only valued by Turning Point, but in the wider sector too.  

The sessions receive positive feedback unanimously from students and course directors about the impact, and the partnership continues to strengthen.