Individuals with Lived Experience
Join the community, access support & opportunities to make a difference.
Your Experience Matters
Expert Citizens are a community interest company built by and for people with lived experience. We exist because we care about people and the world we live in. Our belief is that we can make a difference and that everyone has potential. We understand that everyone has an individual experience and treat each other with respect and dignity. Everyone is welcomed with kindness, humility, and love. We challenge perceptions through honesty with ourselves and each other. Our belief is that fun is a key part of relationships and helps to build trust, creativity and openness.
Our goal is that systems are led by the people they are designed to serve for the collective interest of society.
The Expert Citizens Community act as a support network for each other, engaging in team building and promoting healthy lifestyles.
We use our voice to raise awareness of multiple needs, reduce stigma, and challenge stereotypes. As ambassadors of lived experience, we encourage decision-makers to listen, learn, and then lead systems change in local services to make them even better.
Contact us
If you would like to get involved or would like to find out more about what we do and what we can offer, fill in the contact form opposite and one of our team will contact you for an informal chat.
Or if you prefer you can email us at: volunteer@expertcitizens.org.uk or via post to:
Expert Citizens CIC, The Dudson Centre, Hope Street,
Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5DD
Email: info@expertcitizens.org.uk
Drop us a message
Website Enquiry
Attendee feedback
“I have learnt a lot about myself & others, I hope that I can implement this training in my future endeavors”
“Provided the basis for conversations when trying to support others as well as help myself”
“Great for connecting with fellow practitioners and sharing ideas / experience”
“It has given me the confidence to apply this approach and guide others to do this also”
“There is a huge co-pro community that I can become a part of, that messy is ok, that its actually quite simple”
“A reminder of the signs and symptoms of various mental health conditions – the “lived experience” videos were very helpful for developing more of an understanding about what it is like to live with these issues”
“Challenge stigma, changing culture within organization”
“Reflecting on my use of terminology and how procedural the current process/system is for people experiencing suicidal thoughts”
“It has validated my existing practice, which I can sometimes feel alone in. Thank you – I was on the verge of quitting so you may never know just how grateful I am to feel like I’m not alone”
“I will hopefully be able to support people so much better, LISTENING & fighting the urge to help! I understand more of the place where many of my clients are coming from. I will hopefully be able to share this learning with my colleagues as well as within my personal life”
“going to a tribunal is stressful so understanding what goes on would benefit anyone going to one”
“To be honest I learned loads! That everyone is different & their journey is their own and no one elses, thank you, to find open & frank training & for allowing free discussion”
“everyone who is working with people should do this training”
“insight academy provides so many different training workshops and opportunities and i highly recommend them to everyone”
Frequently Asked Questions
Your most common questions, answered simply
Expert Citizens CIC is a Stoke-on-Trent based Community Interest Company (CIC) led by and for people with lived experience of multiple disadvantages, such as homelessness, mental ill-health, addiction, domestic abuse, poverty, and criminal justice.
We are peer advocates and consultants who utilise our personal experiences and those of our members, to shape, improve, and challenge public services.
Key aspects of what they do include:
- Service Evaluation (INSIGHT Standards): We train individuals with lived experience to evaluate public and charitable services, ensuring they meet the ‘INSIGHT Quality Standards’ for empathy, dignity, and effectiveness.
- Systems Change: We advise commissioners, researchers, and decision-makers to help redesign systems so they work better for the people they serve, rather than operating in ways that isolate or stigmatize vulnerable individuals.
- Expert Citizens community members: We run, fun, community activities including, coffee mornings, trips, micro-volunteering and provide free training and personal development to help people build confidence and transition into volunteering or employment.
- Training: The INSIGHT Academy offers an extensive network of trainers and experts who share co-delivered perspectives to help other organizations build better future support systems.
The INSIGHT Academy is, delivered by Expert Citizens CIC and is part of the Changing Futures Stoke-on-Trent Programme, which sits within Adult Social Care services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s.
The training is fully funded for anyone living and/or working in the Stoke-on-Trent area and available at a nominal charge for anyone from outside of Stoke-on-Trent. All our training is co-designed and co-delivered through lived experience. We also offer people with lived experience the chance to become trainers themselves with our train the trainer programme.
We are peer advocates and consultants who utilise our personal experiences and the voices of our members, to shape, improve, and challenge public services. We advise commissioners, researchers, and decision-makers to help redesign systems, so they work better for the people they serve, rather than operating in ways that isolate or stigmatize vulnerable individuals. We undertake co-produced, commissioned and externally funded projects, research, and evaluations.
We train individuals with lived experience to evaluate public and charitable services, ensuring they meet the ‘INSIGHT Quality Standards’ framework.
The INSIGHT Academy offers an extensive network of trainers and experts who share co-delivered perspectives to help other organizations build better future support systems.
We run, fun, community activities including, coffee mornings, trips, micro-volunteering and provide free training and personal development to help people build confidence and transition into volunteering or employment.
If you are interested in becoming an Expert Citizen member, please complete the expression of interest form here –https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_nlDi9OpCECfVcsMFkI3jjn3N5yX_BdPin22ef_UYYRUOE1…
All the activities organised by Expert Citizens for our members are completely free of change.