Celebrating creativity and lived experience at the Recovery Academy
On Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 May 2026, students and staff from our Recovery Academy were invited to take part in a lived experience art exhibition alongside Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT).
The exhibition was hosted by LSCFT at the Health Innovation One building at Lancaster University. They approached our Recovery Academy for students to contribute by sharing their lived experiences and messages of hope.
Our exhibits included neurographic pieces, painted canvases, ceramics, sculptures, cross stitch, poetry and song lyrics. Recovery Academy students and staff attended over the two days to showcase their work, while also having the opportunity to celebrate the work of peers across the Lancashire and South Cumbria area.
Amy Lawrence, Recovery Academy Team Manager, said:
“I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed and attended – I thoroughly enjoyed my time celebrating the Recovery Academy student contributions, as well as networking and seeing the inspirational pieces by LSCFT. I am excited to see how we can continue working together between Trusts in order to share lived experience voices”.
Following the success of this event, our Recovery Academy is inspired to host a lived experience exhibition closer to home in Greater Manchester. Initial conversations are already taking place with Academy students, colleagues in LSCFT and many other partners across the Greater Manchester area, so keep an eye out for further information!
Annabel Butterworth, Experience Manager at LSCFT, said:
“A huge thank you to our GMMH colleagues for their amazing support and contributions for the art exhibition - it came together beautifully!”
Recovery Academy students who contributed to the lived experience art exhibition shared their views – hear from them below.
“I enjoyed being part of the exhibition. It was nice to meet others, and it helped me realise that although we have different art forms, we have a common goal to reach out to others and use our authentic, empathetic approach in our work which totally connects to others on a similar journey.”
- Mike
“I chose to exhibit my work to show that not all artwork needs to be perfect. My pieces are more like doodles – something I use to relax my mind.”
“Seeing my work exhibited made me feel proud, and it was eye-opening to see how far I’ve come in my own recovery."
“By attending the exhibition, I learnt a lot about the faces behind the creative pieces. I’d definitely recommend that others attend similar events to see how relaxed some events are and how eclectic the artwork is and the people behind it are.”
- Steve
“I was grateful for the opportunity to take part in a lived experience art exhibition at Lancaster University recently. Whilst I don't particularly consider myself an 'artist', I was eager to take the opportunity to creatively express aspects of my mental health journey.
"The art exhibition incentivised me to take some time to create some personally meaningful pieces of art. For one of the pieces, I used acrylic pens on canvas to artistically depict the lyrics of a song we created in a Music and Recovery course at the Recovery Academy back in 2020. I still remember the melody we agreed on, and all the lyrics were based on the group's collective ideas, which made the experience exceptionally enjoyable.
"In another piece, I brainstormed words that came to mind when thinking about my experience at the Recovery Academy and wrote them in different colours on a round piece of wood I had found lying in my craft box at home. You might see this on the homepage of the Recovery Academy website!
"Finally, I spent some time collating pictures of flowers that I had taken in 2023, which at the time, gave me many mindful moments. I also had them printed on a t-shirt, which I wore to the exhibition.
"It felt good to see the finished products, and I enjoyed perusing many other creative works based on people's lived experience.
"I especially connected to a piece of work where the following message was expressed: ‘To be vulnerable and weak takes courage and strength’. I truly experience that in life and find that quote deeply powerful.
"It was a privilege to be a part of the exhibition and to meet and some truly wonderful, authentic and inspirational individuals.
"I would like to thank the Recovery Academy for this wonderful opportunity."
- Shalva
