Emma is the programme lead for research, evaluation, publications and development at Imroc, a lived experience led charity which supports mental health systems, communities and individuals to transform and live well. Until recently, Emma was also the Peer Support Lead at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where she supported the development of the lived experience workforce. She began working there as a peer worker herself in 2010. Emma is a survivor researcher, with research interests in peer support and lived experience identities, especially how these can be defined and constrained depending on context. Her PhD thesis related to this theme. Emma has published widely on subjects relating to recovery and peer support, and she was co-editor of the first book on the subject of peer support in mental health.
The Co-Pact study uses powerful images and narratives from 48 people to reveal how compulsory admission under the Mental Health Act is experienced by racially minoritised communities. Participants described coercive care, institutional racism, and being “voiceless”, but also what could prevent crisis admissions.
