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Section A: Presents a review of first-person accounts by mental health professionals about their lived experience of mental health published in peer-reviewed journals. The review analyses rhetoric used by authors of the accounts to write about their experiences. Lived experience is defined and explored in the context of mental health care, stigma, power and identity. Common themes across first-person accounts were summarised using content analysis. Clinical recommendations include supporting professionals to reconcile professional and service user aspects of their identity through identification and challenging of implicit role expectations of the “helper” and stigma. Research implications include validating the use of rhetorical analysis tool.

Section B: Presents a study using grounded theory methodology to build a theory of factors influencing the use of self-disclosure of lived experience as a therapeutic intervention, identified by professionals and service users. The study further sought to explore impacts of self-disclosure. The resulting model suggests the process of sharing lived experience is impacted by several individual factors, e.g. beliefs held by professionals and service users about self-disclosure and previous experiences of self-disclosure, as well as NHS context. The model is contextualised within relevant research and clinical and research implications are discussed.