Listening to Lived Experience: Building Inclusive Mental Healthcare

Written by Mr. T Mugunthan Chari, Chennai

Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates World Mental Health Day on 10 October. A specific theme is chosen, and the WHO’s work throughout the year focuses on that theme. In 2024, the theme was “Mental Health at Work”; in 2025, it was “Mental Health in Humanitarian Emergencies.” This year’s theme is “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Changes.” This year’s focus is on PWLE, people with lived experience.

Although a theme is chosen and addressed throughout the year, related activities do not cease abruptly. The 2025 theme of humanitarian emergencies remains relevant. Given the many emergencies caused by war and natural disasters, including recent events in Nepal, continued attention is warranted.

This year’s theme is highly relevant, considering the need to safely integrate people with mental health conditions into mainstream life. Sadly, social taboos surrounding mental health issues make it difficult for people to do so, even after years of treatment and recovery and while leading a normal lifestyle. This is also true of families who do not welcome relatives with mental health issues because of the stigma that persists.

PWLE should be heard. Their voices should shape policies that directly affect their lives. When they share their knowledge and experiences, including what they have endured and how difficult their journeys have been, they can offer eye-opening insights to policymakers, primary caregivers, social workers, and others. Sadly, although PWLE are invited to share, discuss, and deliberate, they are often excluded when decisions are made.

Their voices have little impact on those decisions. Institutions that boast about inclusive, community-based, person-centred healthcare rarely involve PWLE or consider their opinions in the decision-making process. By and large, the much-touted “quality care” can turn out to involve coercion, human rights violations, and, in some cases, abuse.

As mental health personnel, let us make inclusive growth a priority and ensure it is more rewarding for everyone with mental health issues. In this connection, I wish to recall my experience at Arlington Public Library, near George Mason University in Virginia, USA. The library held an open day, which I had the opportunity to attend as a visitor. The Human Library section included people with GAD, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders. They freely shared their experiences with visitors to help inform them. In India, we should try to do the same so that mental health professionals can learn through interactions with PWLE.

The WHO wants to encourage more person-centred healthcare rather than long-term psychiatric institutional care. This can reduce isolation and facilitate social integration. It requires careful planning, funding, and better-trained support staff to advance deinstitutionalisation. 

This will be a new challenge!