Journal of Recovery in Mental Health Vol.8 No.2 Summer 2025 ISSN: 2371-2376  The Complex Interaction between Mental Health Services and the Lived Experience Identity Simone Arbour1 1Ontario  Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License  Keywords: identity, personal recovery, recovery college, peer support  As the managing editor of the Journal of Recovery in Mental Health, I am continually afforded the opportunity to reflect on emerging research and viewpoints related to mental health and recovery. I can see connections and how these empirical findings and developing issues relate to my organizational, societal, and cultural context. The articles contained in this issue continue to contribute to my ongoing reflection. Specifically, as I read the various manuscripts, I am struck with how the notion of identity unfolds in the mental health context. Identity has always featured prominently in mental health research involving the establishment of the personal recovery phenomenon. Some of the most impactful conceptualizations, such as Anthony  s (1993) seminal definition of recovery and Leamy et al.  s (2011) influential establishment of the CHIME framework, challenge the notion that one  s sense of self be entrenched in diagnosis and disability. However, the   mentally ill   or   patient   identity can at times be inescapable and hard to shake off    often because of the lens with which others view individuals with lived experience. Having worked and researched in the mental health hospital context, I have seen the ways in which identity influences practice, policy, and recovery-related outcomes. Within hospital treatment, identity is encapsulated in a variety of contexts    adolescent, forensic, peer support, and working with individuals with lived experience. Many of these contexts are captured within articles contained in this issue and prompt me to think about the ways identity, specifically the lived experience identity, is not yet fully realized as a source of expertise but instead can still contribute to inequities and potentially (and unfortunately) a source of shame. In this issue, Watson as well as Hopkins and colleagues explore the peer support identity in general, and combined with one  s developmental life stage, respectively.  2 In theory, lived experience is seen as an asset in mental health service delivery. Many opportunities exist in the mental health hospital context, such as patient and caregiver advisement, co-production, peer support and patient-oriented research. However, this theory often gets lost in translation when implemented into practice. Those with lived experience are vulnerable. By sheer virtue of their titles or roles, they are disclosing parts of themselves that staff rarely do. And it would seem at times services employing peer roles need to determine whether the lived experience is   appropriate   in order to make use. People with lived experience (PWLE) can be punished for disclosing some aspects of their lived experience that might actually be helpful. For example, if an individual has lived experience within the forensic mental health system, they are often seen as a risk rather than an asset. The forensic mental health services are fraught by risk aversion often preventing the development and implementation of recovery-oriented practices. But I wonder, who better to provide peer support to forensic patients than individuals who have successful navigated the forensic mental health system and are thriving in the community? It would seem that administrations and organizations want to appear as those they value lived experience, but it has to be the   right   lived experience. In this way, the peer support role or identity can carry a detrimental sense of self and can actually be harmful. Watson  s article outlines quite articulately how the peer identity can impart both positive and negative concepts of self and the work. Where an individual is situated on their developmental trajectory can also influence how identity interacts with mental health. Having worked with adolescents on a research project (Arbour et al., 2022), I became aware how the early introduction of a mental health diagnosis can sometimes entrench itself into the youth  s identity. In this issue, Hopkins et al. discuss peer support across the lifespan and denote that much of the peer support in services involves adults. The authors outline how youth peer support is different to that of adults. This is also true of other youth mental health initiatives. With youth and adolescents, it is imperative that the emerging identity be taken into account. For example, the shift in identity for adults participating in the recovery college can be profound. Learners are no longer identified as   patients   but instead identify as artists, students, teachers, and experts in their own experience. Working with young people and developing recovery colleges (RC) within the University context (Paul et al., 2024), my colleagues and I realized that this shift in identity is not necessarily the largest mechanism of impact given that young participants of RC in University already identified as learners or students. Moreover, selecting courses to take in the RC again may not be as empowering as is the case in the adult RC offering because students in University select courses all the time. These examples remind us that a one size fits all approach to mental health    whether it be peer support or RC - take into account the dynamic  3 nature of the human identity and ensure there is an understanding and appreciation of its evolution. One final thought regarding identity and mental health: while there may be some commonalities across groups, identity is individual. Recovery-oriented practice guidelines make it very clear that supports and treatments be tailored to the individual during the lifespan within cultural context (MHCC, 2015). While the goal in treatment is to situate individual at the centre, in this issue of the journal, Slade reminds us of the harmful myth that mental health problems are individual. This myth is no doubt associated with blaming the individual with the mental health diagnosis, leading to questions like   what  s wrong with you?   rather than   what happened to you?  . Slade  s experience in the psychiatric context provides valuable observations, points of discussion, and thoughtful reflection    again providing me personally with the opportunity to apply these learnings to my experiences. The articles contained in this issue are extremely validating and encouraging as they demonstrate the areas in which we need to ask to do better for PWLE, whether it be peers, younger or older individuals with mental health challenges and their loved ones. The Journal of Recovery in Mental Health strives to be the forum for discussion, reflection, and learning. We continue to accept original articles whether they be research, viewpoints and opinions, as well as reflections of lived experience. Our next issue will be Winter, 2025.  Anthony, W. A. (1993). Recovery from mental illness: The guiding vision of the mental health service system in the 1990s. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 16(4), 11   23. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0095655 Arbour, Simone &amp; Chiu, Mary &amp; Paul, Sayani &amp; Battistelli, Rachael &amp; Harris, Holly. (2022). Exploring the Recovery Phenomenon from Adolescents   Perspective: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health. 10. 10.1007/s40737-022-00283-7. Leamy M, Bird V, Le Boutillier C, Williams J, Slade M. Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: systematic review and narrative synthesis. Br J Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;199(6):445-52. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.083733. PMID: 22130746. Mental Health Commission of Canada. (2015). Recovery Guidelines Ottawa, ON: Author Paul, S., Battistelli, R., &amp; Arbour, S. (2024). Impact of Recovery Colleges in Postsecondary Institutions in Canada    Preliminary Findings. Emerging Adulthood, 12(3), 438-446.