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From Lived Experience to Collective Shared Wisdom
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Seminar hosted by the ISS21 Disability and Mental Health Cluster in which Sinead Pierce (Peer Support Worker, HSE & Lived Experience Informed Educator) explored the use of experiential knowledge in third level teaching and practice.
In this presentation, Sinead explored the role of experiential knowledge in mental health peer work and third level education, with a focus on the lived experience perspective. She examined the importance of lived experience as a legitimate and valuable form of knowledge, while also addressing its frequent marginalisation as a form of epistemic injustice. The seminar highlighted the complexities of transforming individual lived experiences into collective knowledge, acknowledging the challenges this process entails. The presentation also sought to explore how third level institutions can better engage with the multifaceted nature of experiential knowledge and foster environments that support transformative, collective, and reciprocal understanding.
Speaker Bio
Sinéad works as a Peer Support Worker with an Early Intervention in Psychosis service (HSE) and as a Third Level Educator (UCC) where she lectures in several departments and is a member of the Academic Council. She worked in the field of community arts as a coordinator and facilitator for 20 years and is passionate about the transformative role that creativity can play in fostering inclusion, change and meaningful connections. In her current roles she draws on lived experience to support others on their recovery journeys and embeds experiential knowledge into third level education and professional development. As a Geography graduate, Sinéad has a strong interest in how a sense of place and spatial relationships shape our lived experience - an awareness that continues to inform her approach to mental health practice. Sinead is a mam of 3 and in her spare time likes to play piano and whistle, sing, weave words together and is at her happiest out and about exploring the wilds.
This event was hosted by the ISS21 Disability and Mental Health Research Cluster, and chaired by Dr Lydia Sapouna (School of Applied Social Studies).
For more on this story contact:
Dr Lydia Sapouna, L.Sapouna@ucc.ie