This paper presents a critical interpretive synthesis of 53 articles describing the pedagogical use of madness/‘mental illness’ autobiographical narratives in postsecondary education. Focusing on instructor intentions and representations of student learning outcomes, findings indicate that narratives are most commonly used as ‘learning material’ to engage students in active learning, cultivate students’ empathy, complement dominant academic/professional knowledges, illustrate abstract concepts and provide ‘real’-life connections to course content. This paper contributes to a conversation across the intellectual traditions of Mad studies, medical humanities, educational research, stigma reduction and service user involvement to interrogate pedagogical uses of autobiographical narratives that remain in uncritical educational terms rather than as a matter of justice for Mad communities. While teaching with narratives will not inevitably result in social justice outcomes, thoughtful engagement with the ethical and epistemological considerations raised throughout this review may increase this possibility by shifting when, why and how we teach with autobiography.

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Objective Co-production involves service providers and service users collaborating to design and deliver services together and is gaining attention as a means to improve provision of care. Aiming to extend this model to an educational context, the authors assembled a diverse group to develop co-produced education for psychiatry residents and medical students at the University of Toronto over several years. The authors describe the dynamics involved in co-producing psychiatric education as experienced in their work. Methods A collaborative autobiographical case study approach provides a snapshot of the collective experiences of working to write a manuscript about paying service users for their contributions to co-produced education. Data were collected from two inperson meetings, personal communications, emails, and online comments to capture the fullest possible range of perspectives from the group about payment. Results The juxtaposition of the vision for an inclusive process against the budgetary constraints that the authors faced led them to reflect deeply on the many meanings of paying service user educators for their contributions to academic initiatives. These reflections revealed that payment had implications at personal, organizational, and social levels. Conclusion Paying mental health service user educators for their contributions is an ethical imperative for the authors. However, unless payment is accompanied by other forms of demonstrating respect, it aligns with organizational structures and practices, and it is connected to a larger goal of achieving social justice, the role of service users as legitimate knowers and educators and ultimately their impact on learners will be limited.

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