This paper critiques the Safewards model through the lens of lived experiences of psychiatric hospitalization, diagnosis of mental illness, and distress. Special focus is given to the model's tested 10 interventions and to five lesser known interventions, identifying the impact they can have on hospitalized consumers. We highlight the role and prevalence of trauma, as well as the need to prevent harm in hospital settings. We draw upon notions of hospital as a sanctuary for people and the importance of providing a safe ward. ‘Sanctuary harm’ and ‘Sanctuary trauma’ are thus defined, with emphasis placed on the Safewards interventions as means by which sanctuary can be achieved. Finally, the consumer‐perspective authors propose expansions to the model, critiquing the defining literature and moving towards a consumer experience of safety that is beyond the model’s original intention: to reduce seclusion and restraint practices. Throughout the paper, the term ‘consumer’ is used in this context to mean people who have experienced or are experiencing psychiatric inpatient care.

Mental health nursing requires a specialist range of capabilities and values. In Australian contexts, the preparation of nurses to work in mental health settings has attracted criticism from government reviews, academics, and graduate nurses. Insufficient mental health content and clinical placement experience in undergraduate nursing courses have been central to this criticism. The study aim was to identify the areas and modalities of capability development of graduate mental health nurses, from the perspectives of end point users. In order to meet the aim, a four‐item cross‐sectional online survey with three additional and open‐ended questions was developed. The questions were co‐designed with consumer academics and reviewed by consumer and carer organizations. The survey was widely distributed across Australian consumer and carer organizations, with 95 useable responses. Findings indicated strong support for lived experience being integrated into teaching teams for nurses, as well as support for undergraduate direct entry for mental health nursing. Themed content from open‐ended responses reflected the survey outcomes as well as prioritizing skill development to support better therapeutic relating and nurse self‐care. Key findings included strong support for greater lived experience input into mental health nurse education, specialist undergraduate preparation and a focus on developing relational capabilities in the mental health nurse workforce.

Lived experience leadership is championed as key to realising progressive change across the mental health sector. This article represents an effort to diminish the hermeneutical lacuna associated with lived experience leadership, and so redress an identified barrier to its advancement. Herein, we present an analytic account of the defining features of lived experience leadership. Interviews were conducted with 19 people identified by their peers as lived experience leaders regarding their views on lived experience leadership and related concepts such as power, authority, influence and leadership more generally. Per our discursive analysis of interview data, lived experience leadership is constituted by acts realised via the use of a specific type of power- people with lived experience’s experience-based and systems-informed knowledge of and fidelity to themselves as both individuals and as a collective- and directed towards increasing others’ access to this power. Results suggest how lived experience leadership might be distinguished from other similar practices, and may be utilised as a tool with which to promote its proliferation.

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