Table 4.

Participants’ feedback about lived experience videos.

P1. I enjoyed, I guess, what’s the name of the word, the reinforcement, or, seeing somebody else going through the same situation with the same feelings, somebody I could relate to, I found, it was something I hadn’t been through before and, and that made me feel good, that felt great and a lot more at ease from watching the video. The video also … what I did try and do once or twice was to answer questions without watching the video and then, going back watching the video, realised that the video was actually opening up the scope, it was actually scoping out the area ahead of what the questions were going to be like.

P2. The fact that others are sharing their own experience. … Yeah, and I look at the video and even though I was hospitalised before, when I come out – it’s been a while since I came out – I forget that ah, I’m not alone. Yeah.

P3. Really enlightening. Made me feel like I am not alone.

P4. Well … relate to people … what they’re saying: this is what happened to me and how I got over it, and what I did. Yeah.

P5. I like the fact that everyone’s so different, it’s so, like they all have different, and they’re all unique, and they all had good things to say. Like what I mean by good is, you know, relevant to people with like, yeah. I didn’t feel so alone. So that was a good thing. … I just felt like I could relate to someone. I wasn’t so alone.

P6. There were obviously the different individuals who explained their scenario and talked about each topic in the video, and then said what that topics means to them, and how certain questions around the topic are answered, and it was all good, it was all insightful. … Yes, the videos were really good, they were organised, they were structured, quite informative, honest, and um yeah, so like lots of multi-perspectives on topics – yeah, that was good.

P7. Because I could just sit there and watch a whole half hour of them talking and get so inspired, and so moved, you know. … it makes you realise you’re not alone, and that you’re not some frumpy sort of, the bad image of mental illness: not washed, not clothed well, smells bad, can’t coherently keep a sentence together, looks off into the distance, is aggressive or threatening or sullen. You know what I mean?

P8. I could relate to a lot of peoples’ stories, and they had a similar experience to mine, so I thought that was good. And then I answered a few questions and sent a few comments to [the facilitator] and that sort of thing. So yeah I just, I gained more insight into my condition I think. I’ve always had a lot of insight, but just hearing other peoples’ experiences; when you think you’ve got your own mind made up about your illness and you won’t listen to anybody about your illness, and you need to think “oh okay,” you think you’re right, but there are a lot of other people who have varying symptoms, and it was just good to hear other peoples’ opinions and impressions of their own diagnosis, and that sort of thing; what they do to tackle their problems. So it was good.

P9. I can relate to some of the things they were talking about in my own life, and it just makes me more aware and more determined to overcome the obstacles that I’ve been facing.

P10. They had people talking about how to handle stress, and I put my feet in their shoes and sort of could understand, you know, um where those people were coming from, their experiences.