What’s the project?
The Open University is developing a new final year undergraduate psychology module, “Working Therapeutically”, which aims to provide students with a realistic and critical understanding of therapeutic work across a range of mental health and counselling settings. Through a series of virtual placement experiences, students will learn about different services, forms of distress, therapeutic approaches, and the experiences of those who access support.
Academics from the Open University would like to ensure that our teaching material is informed by the knowledge and perspectives of people with lived experience of using mental health services. The academic teaching team is seeking lived experience consultants to help identify the issues, experiences, and forms of knowledge that are most important for future practitioners to understand.
The contributions of lived experience consultants will directly influence the content and focus of the module, helping to ensure that teaching is authentic, relevant, and grounded in real-world experiences. Your contributions will help shape how future psychology graduates understand mental health, therapeutic practice, service use, and the experiences of those seeking support.
The module will be studied by undergraduate psychology students, many of whom will go on to work in mental health, counselling, health, social care, and related professions. By bringing lived experience perspectives into the curriculum, your input will help to support the development of more reflective, informed, and compassionate future practitioners.
Find out more
The academic teaching team is looking for approximately 3–4 people with lived experience of using mental health services to act as paid lived experience consultants on the development of a new Open University psychology module.
Initially, they are asking consultants to review some provisional module content ideas and provide feedback and suggestions on what they think is important for students to learn. You will not be asked to talk directly about your personal story or experience if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. Instead, the team would like to hear your feedback about what you think students should know. Feedback can be provided in writing, through a Microsoft Teams video call, or a combination of both, depending on your preference.
The first round of feedback is expected to involve approximately half a day’s work and will take place around July or August. The Open University team may then invite consultants to provide a second round of feedback after we have incorporated suggestions, which would involve a further half day of work around September.
Meetings, if preferred, are likely to be conducted on a one-to-one basis via Microsoft Teams. However, if there is sufficient interest and lived experience consultants would prefer it, the team may also offer a small group discussion. All involvement will take place online.
There may also be opportunities throughout the following year for consultants who are interested to contribute more substantially as the module continues to be developed.
Must be based in the UK
· Must be age 18 or over
· Must have experience of using mental health services
· Must have a way of accessing documents that will be shared digitally via email
· Must be able to engage with materials and provide feedback in English, either verbally, in writing, or both.
You will receive payment of £100 per half day.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please email [email protected] with a brief email that includes:
1. What is your name?
2. Are you based in the UK?
3. Why are you interested in this specific opportunity?
4. Please give brief details of any relevant experience you feel comfortable sharing, either in a lived experience expert/consultant role or of using mental health services.
5. Sometimes after talking about topics like mental health, people feel they need a little extra support or someone to chat to. What support do you currently have in place (e.g. supportive friends, family, health professionals or mental health charities)? Please let us know if you have any preferences about how to participate that would best support your wellbeing. It will be entirely your choice what you disclose and what
we discuss. If you want to pause or end your participation at any point, that will be OK. Please click here to read The McPin Foundation’s privacy policy
Please contact [email protected] by July 15th 2026.
Please note that we can appoint four people, and therefore, for fairness, we will offer contracts in the order that enquiries are received. If you are interested in this opportunity, we invite you to contact us at your earliest convenience.
Please note that the McPin Foundation regularly promotes opportunities on behalf of other institutions; we are not responsible for the continuation or contents of further correspondence with any project partners where we are not listed as the project main point of contact.
