Mental health research has sometimes been seen as a ¡°ram raid¡± on participants¡¯ lives, where academics ¡°grab as much as [they] can and then reverse out the front door¡±, according to Toby Brandon, professor in mental health and disability at Northumbria University.

He has been working on a programme aimed at creating more of a ¡°two-way street¡±, where people?with experience of mental health trauma, homelessness or the criminal justice system share their life experiences to inform academic studies while also earning a qualification for themselves.

The first of about 20 students to take the ?at Northumbria graduated this week, having studied modules at its Coach Lane Campus over the past two years.

Brandon hopes the programme can contribute to a ¡°different power relationship¡± around research?and describes the work as the ¡°most rewarding¡± of his career.

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¡°This fits neatly into the university¡¯s objectives as a direct institution welcoming and working with communities, and a fundamental part of that is the idea of doing research with people, not on them or for them,¡± he told Times Higher Education.

Brandon said the ¡°the $64 million question¡± will be whether the research itself is improved as a result, but that evidence shows it has benefits for both sides.

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¡°There¡¯s a big change in them being a patient, becoming a student and then ending up as a researcher potentially¡­and ending up in these spaces. It¡¯s kind of everyday for me but it¡¯s hugely transformational for some people.

¡°That¡¯s the internal impact for them, but the external impact is that we get enriched hugely by their experience and the questions they ask¡­it¡¯s a two-way street really.¡±

Tara Scott, one of the students to take the course, has suffered from psychotic depression in the past. She said it was ¡°vitally important¡± that people like her were involved in research in this way.

Scott, who works as a community engagement coordinator for mental health charity Mind, said some forms of research that involve vulnerable people can lack adequate governance to ensure their participation is not ¡°tokenistic¡±.

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¡°The involvement people with lived experience have in research projects, in my opinion, is largely not?followed up on at the end of the research project, it is too easy to tick the box to say someone?with lived experience is involved without that being a meaningful, positive and effective experience.¡±

Scott, who left school at 16, has used the opportunity to secure a place on her first undergraduate degree programme. Now 52, she will begin studying psychology with counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Cumbria in September.

¡°It was doing the module at Northumbria that actually showed me that I was capable of academic education, and I absolutely loved doing it, so I thought why not,¡± she told?91ÇÑ×Ó.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com