A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR: EXPERT BY LIVED EXPERIENCE
"New ideas and expressions emerge frequently in health care, and recently there has been discussion around the concept of ‘expert by lived experience.’ As the expression implies, there is expertise gained from living through experiences and learning from these encounters with the life circumstances associated with the phenomenon. The experience could be an illness. The longer a person living with diabetes works with the treatment team, the better they become at figuring out how to work the routines associated with diabetes care into their daily habits. They become expert at it. Likewise, lived experience helps with becoming a better gardener, or pretty much most things that are practiced on a regular basis.
In working with those who live with bipolar disorder, I have learned so very much about how people manage their routines, lifestyle issues, and anticipate and manage challenges. A major source of my continuing education is from those I have the privilege of caring for in the clinics. We teach our trainees to listen and learn from those under their care. We emphasize that the management of bipolar disorder is a collaboration between those living with the disorder and the treatment teams. When we work together, so much more is possible."
Click here to read Dr. McInnis' entire letter and check out Prechter Program updates:
- Prechter Program 2023
- Knowledge Builds on Knowledge: Snapshot of the Last Year
- Updates on International Collaborations: A New Global Bipolar Cohort Partnership
- Studying Decisions and Brain Networks in Bipolar Disorder
- Spotlight: Frances Adiukwu, M.D.
- Bipolar Disorder Learning Community
- Celebrating Lived Experiences in the Prechter Program
- Stem Cell Lab: Organoid Models of Bipolar Disorder
- Can Brain Stimulation Boost Cognitive Training?
- What am I feeling and why? The HAPPI Study
- Rhythm and Blues: Changing the Clock to Breakthrough in Bipolar Disorder
- Understanding Anxiety and Depression in Bipolar Disorder
- You Can Help
- Letter from the Prechters
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