Small talk matters! Creating allyship in mental health research

ABSTRACT

The Converge Evaluation and Research Team (CERT) is a group of UK-based researchers with lived experience of mental health difficulties. There is growing international pressure from major research funders that research projects should be co-produced with those people being researched. This article explores how CERT researchers have sought to achieve such allyship in their work across five projects, including choosing user-friendly interview methods such as photographs and music; allowing participants to decide on language; deciding which areas of research should be prioritised; and training participants in interviewing so that they can interview alongside CERT researchers. Across the projects described here, it emerged that small talk between the CERT researcher and the participant prior to, and during the interview – in particular, the sharing of mutual experiences of living with mental health difficulties – appears to be extremely important to creating allyship between them. Creating allyship is an important component of ensuring participants ultimately benefit from the research through greater validity of, and increased real-world relevance of, the findings. The author identifies as having lived experience of mental health difficulties and considers allyship from the dual perspective of both having lived experience and as a researcher.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• allyship
• small talk
• co-production
• lived experience
• mutual experiences
• dual perspective

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ruth Lambley

Ruth Lambley is a founding member of the Converge Evaluation and Research Team and is the team co-ordinator. With an academic background in psychology, and lived experience of mental health difficulties, she has a special interest in co-production in mental health services and academic research, in particular using participatory approaches and mixed methods to explore this field.