EP 31: Professor Fiona Lobban on lived experience, peer support, and rethinking mental health research

Send us Fan MailFiona Lobban has spent her life at the intersection of mental health, research, and lived experience. Growing up in the North East, she applied to Oxford “almost on a whim” — and walked straight into a culture shock that left her struggling, isolated, and without support. Her own mental health collapsed during her degree, and she later spent a year working in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Liverpool, witnessing the realities of distress up close.Fiona eventually returned to Oxford, completed her PhD, and trained as a clinical psychologist — but she carried her lived experience in silence, convinced it would count against her. In this conversation, she talks about the cost of that silence, and how it ultimately shaped her work: clinically, academically, and as a researcher committed to co-designing support with the people who use it.We explore her work on peer support, from analysing online forums through the iPOF study to co-creating the Library of Lived Experience — a striking project that captures people’s stories in ways traditional research often can’t. Fiona reflects on the conditions that make peer spaces safe and transformative, the misconceptions that still exist, and why services underestimate just how powerful peer-to-peer connection can be.You’ll also hear her take on what really needs to change in services, how families and peers are too often left out, and what it takes to get policymakers to genuinely listen. And for students or young people who might be where she once was — isolated and unsure where to turn — Fiona offers grounded, compassionate advice.It’s a conversation about voice, courage, and building systems that finally recognise lived experience as expertise.You’ll hear about:Navigating student mental health in an era with little supportWhy lived experience was something Fiona hid — and later embracedWhat co-designed psychosocial support looks like in practiceThe power and limits of peer supportCreating the Library of Lived ExperienceMisconceptions, risks, and designing safe online peer spacesWhat needs to shift in policy, practice, and representationWhy the next generation gives her hope Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.Show notes & resources:With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.ukListen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk