Lived experience participation in mental health recovery teaching in university psychology courses

Involvement of people with lived/living experience of mental distress in mental health workforce training has positive impacts on student learning and skill development, improves healthcare outcomes, and is mandated in international accreditation standards for clinical psychology training. However, there is limited research on the extent of lived experience involvement in psychology education more broadly. This research identified the extent of lived experience involvement in tertiary psychology education in New Zealand. All 77 teachers of 93 courses with mental health content at New Zealand universities were invited to complete an online survey about lived experience teaching in their course. Fifteen teachers provided data about 44 undergraduate, postgraduate, and applied training courses. Lived experience teaching was uncommon, especially in applied training courses. Lived experience involvement is underdeveloped in tertiary psychology education in New Zealand. It is time for psychology to recognise the importance of contact-based, lived experience-led, and recovery-focused teaching and learning in psychology education and training.