Doing what we can, but knowing our place: Being an ally to promote consumer leadership in mental health

Abstract

Consumer participation in all aspects of mental health services is clearly articulated as an expectation of contemporary mental health policy. Consumer leadership has been demonstrated to be beneficial to mental health services. Barriers to implementation have limited the realization of this goal. In this discursive paper, we argue that non-consumers who support consumer partnerships and leadership (known as 'allies') have an important role to play in facilitating and supporting consumers in leadership roles. Allies currently have more potential to influence resource allocation, and might be viewed more credibly by their peers than consumer leaders themselves. We call for allies to ensure their role is one of support and facilitation (doing what they can), rather than directing the content or speaking on behalf of the consumer movement (knowing their place). In the present study, we address the importance of allies for the consumer movement. It proposes some 'rules of engagement' to ensure that allies do not intentionally or otherwise encroach on consumer knowledge and expertise, so that they maintain the important position of supporting consumers and facilitating the valuing and use of consumer knowledge, expertise, and ultimately, leadership.

“I don't think we've quite got there yet”: The experience of allyship for mental health consumer researchers

“…The findings from this research expand understanding of how other mental health researchers enact allyship within collaborations with consumer researchers (Happell & Scholz, ; Slay & Stephens, ). Participants described how their commitment to consumer research has led to their active involvement in establishing and supporting positions for consumer researchers, ranging from casual, short term to permanent roles.…”

“…Participants holding senior positions have used their power, greater access to resources and knowledge of institutional structures and systems to overcome identified barriers to involving consumers in mental health research. This activism is identified as an important characteristic of allies (Happell & Scholz, ; Slay & Stephens, ), and has been identified as pivotal in the implementation of consumer positions in academia more broadly (Clossey et al., ; Happell & Roper, , ; Morrow et al., ; Simons et al., ; Simpson, ). Truly authentic partnerships with consumers in research activities remains in its infancy (Vollm et al., ).…”

“…Involving consumers in research and other academic activities has been facilitated by other researchers. These individuals, also referred to as allies (Slay & Stephens, ), utilize the power they have by virtue of their positions and influence resource allocation to facilitate the implementation of opportunities for consumers to become actively involved in research (Happell & Scholz, ). Allies generally hold senior positions with greater access to resources and infrastructure than their consumer counterparts.…”

“…Despite the potentially important role of allies, there is little on this topic in the mental health literature. A recent article describes the important role of allies in facilitating consumer leadership (Happell & Scholz, ), with principles that could be readily adapted to consumer researchers. More broadly, the literature suggests allyship in mental health academia has primarily focused on health professionals’ education, most frequently in nursing and social work to date (Clossey, Mehnert, & Silva, ; Happell & Roper, , ; Morrow, Boaz, Brearley, & Ross, ; Simons et al., ; Simpson, ).…”

Very useful, but do carefully: Mental health researcher views on establishing a Mental Health Expert Consumer Researcher Group

“…“Consumer researcher” refers to researchers who have lived experience of mental illness and services who used that perspective in their research work (Happell, Gordon, et al, ). It has been argued that providing a consumer perspective when not employed in such a capacity might serve to diminish or silence the expertise that consumers can bring to mental health services (Happell & Scholz, ), suggesting the importance of ensuring lived experience expertise be valued for the benefits in brings.…”