Parallel Lives – promoting recovery through participant-led research

A group of people with lived experience of mental health problems explored the archived records of a defunct ‘Lunatic Asylum’ and reported on their findings. This was a participant-led project with researchers supported by a tutor and a member of the archive staff. Participants controlled the whole project, choosing their own areas of investigation and how they would study these. They also designed and delivered a presentation of their findings to the public. A focus group, held to evaluate the project, found that the ‘group’, as an entity, was vital to the success of the project, which has uncovered much information about the lives of mentally ill ‘patients’ in the nineteenth century. It has also given the participants valuable research experience. Their control over the study led to increased confidence and empowered participant-researchers to consider routes for progression and increased aspirations for the future which can include recovery.