lived experience
inspires
Bringing lived experience into learning, training, and growth.
Watch empathy grow, resilience strengthen, and people thrive.
"Lived experience cuts through the noise of excessive and often contradictory information and makes a lasting difference in how we understand, support, and care for one another. With a professional background and over 25 years of navigating healthcare services, I bring unique insight, helping individuals, education programmes and organisations grow with authenticity, compassion, and impact."
Why I created
Lived Experience Inspires?
I wanted to turn my personal challenges into powerful opportunities for learning and growth. As a passionate mental health advocate, guest speaker, and campaigner with 25 years of lived experience, I’ve seen first-hand how real stories can educate, empower, and inspire in ways textbooks never can. Living with multiple long-term mental and physical health diagnoses, I bring authentic insight that breaks down stigma, cultivates compassion, and sparks meaningful change.
Fliss Hoyle
Sharing real stories goes beyond what textbooks or theories can teach.
Why invest
in mental health + wellbeing?
A third of people in the UK say they would rather stay silent about mental health than risk an awkward conversation (Mind, 2023).
1 in 6 UK workers is experiencing a mental health problem such as stress, depression or anxiety right now.
(Mental Health Foundation, 2023)
Poor mental health costs UK employers around £1,700 per employee each year - through reduced performance, absence and turnover.
(Deloitte, 2024)
Almost 8 in 10 employees report moderate to high stress, and 6 in 10 show signs of burnout.
(MHFA England, 2024).
The national cost of mental ill health is equal to around £1 in every £20 of the UK's entire economy.
(LSE & Mental health foundation, 2022)
Around 875,000 UK workers suffer from work-related stress, depression or anxiety every year, leading to 17.1 million lost working days (Mental Health Foundation, 2023).
These statistics highlight the challenge — but they also show the opportunity for change. By listening to lived experience and building more compassionate, open workplaces, we can turn these statistics into stories of resilience, empathy, and stronger performance.
Sharing lived experience
Why is it so important?
Reality Over Theory
Grounding academic knowledge in everyday life.
Hope + Empowerment
Showing recovery and resilience is possible
Empathy + Compassion
Seeing the person, not just the diagnosis.
Practical Strategies
Insights into what actually works day-to-day.
Stigma Reduction
Breaking down shame and isolation
Trust + Openness
Creating honest, human learning spaces.
Supported by Leading Organisations + Voices
The value of sharing lived experience is widely recognised — across healthcare, education, and workplaces, supported by organisations, global advocates, and educators, including the NHS, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mental Health First Aid England and MIND, shaping the future of compassionate practice.
"Being open about mental health at work helps break down stigma and create a culture of change - a strategic approach for organisations."
Mental Health First Aid England
“People with lived experience bring unique insight that can transform mental health services and improve outcomes for all."
Royal College of Psychiatrists
"Talking about mental health issues is essential for reducing stigma and
improving public understanding."
Ruby Wax, Mental Health Advocate
“Listening to lived experience is vital to delivering compassionate, person-centred care.”
Royal College of Nursing
"Stories [lived experience] can show people that people with mental health problems are cared about, understood and listened to. We can use it to challenge the status quo and change attitudes.
MIND
"Involving people with real-life experience of work and health improves understanding and helps share better policy and practice."
Health Foundation
“Learning from lived experience gives us more than knowledge — it gives us understanding.”
NHS Education for Scotland
How I can help
My 4 ways of working
academic
Beyond the textbook -
Sharing 25yrs of patient lived experience
Bringing the patient voice directly into the classroom. Drawing on 25 years of lived experience with mental and physical health conditions, Fliss offers students unique insight beyond the textbook — deepening understanding, challenging stigma, and preparing future professionals for compassionate, patient-centred care. Based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, sessions can be delivered face to face or online, making lived experience learning accessible, flexible, and impactful wherever you are. Are you looking to increase lived experience on your education programme? The insight students gain is invaluable. Get in touch to find out more.
INSPIRATIONAL TALKS
From breakdown to breakthrough
The House that Healing Built
A visual journey through recovery and resilience. Using the metaphor of a house, Fliss shows how we rebuild after storms, find light again and create stability through acceptance, routine, reflection and hope. An honest, uplifting talk that helps audiences see healing in a new and accessible way. Available online or face to face with a short follow on workshop. Sounds exciting? Get in touch to book this unique and powerful talk experience.
professional
Compassion in Action -
Training for a culture that cares and performs
Equipping workplaces with lived experience insight that builds compassion, resilience, and wellbeing around mental health. Fliss delivers practical, relatable training that inspires change, reduces stigma, and empowers teams to support themselves and each other. Whether delivered in person or online, every session is designed to meet your team where they are, creating meaningful conversations that lead to lasting culture change. Ready to build compassion and transform your workplace culture? Reach out to create a space where every team can truly thrive.
media + charity
Speaking Up -
Beyond the barriers
Fliss is passionate about raising awareness and challenging stigma around both mental and physical health. Her media experience includes features in magazines and appearances on TV and radio, where she raises awareness of specific causes, diagnoses, and patient care experiences. She has written for blogs, newspapers, charities, and magazines, and collaborates with organisations, individuals, and podcasts on social media to extend her reach and impact. Fliss works both in person and online, adapting to the needs of each project to ensure every collaboration is accessible, authentic, and meaningful. Looking to bring authentic lived experience into your charity or campaign? Message to create impact that lasts.
More about me
Here's my story
At 18, my life changed forever after a serious car accident left me with PTSD. What followed were years of surgeries and mental health struggles that eventually led to a breakdown at 26. I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, panic disorder, an eating disorder, and later bipolar disorder after a life-threatening medication reaction. I spent long periods in hospital, underwent ECT, and navigated the mental health system while facing the reality of living with multiple long-term conditions.
Over the years, more diagnoses were added — functional neurological disorder, ADHD, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and surgical menopause after a major hysterectomy. Each new challenge forced me to rebuild my life, adapt, and find strength I didn’t know I had.
Back in 2008, I made a decision: if I had to live with these experiences, I would use them to make a difference. In times of wellness, I started sharing my story to educate and inspire. I trained police, teachers, and workplaces through MIND and Mental Health First Aid England (I am a certified Mental Health First Aider), became a media ambassador for Beat, wrote articles, featured on TV and radio, and began campaigning for change. I was part of the pioneering team to bring lived experience into Coventry's nursing education programme, and for the last 16 years I’ve worked with universities across the UK to help future healthcare professionals understand what care looks like from the patient’s side.
Today, I create inspirational talks, training sessions, and educational workshops that bring the patient voice and lived experience into the heart of care, education, and workplace culture. My mission is simple: to break stigma, build compassion, and empower people — from students to senior leaders — to create environments that prioritise understanding, wellbeing, and human connection.
Fliss has the capacity to
capture an audience from the outset. She shares her experiences by delivering her material with candour and generosity. Her passion to change attitudes around mental health issues is evident in her continued commitment to our organisation, and students, and her sessions are always positively evaluated.
Jacqui Day - Senior Lecturer Mental Health Nursing DMU
Fliss takes a diligent approach to
her teaching and shares her experiences and ideas with students in a way that not only enhances their student experiences but shapes their view of empathetic patient care.
Hannah Wakefield - Senior Lecturer Mental Health Nursing DMU
Fliss uses her own stories
to engage and empower students, to create an understanding of how compassionate and holistic practice, can be supported in Mental Health Nursing care. Her considered delivery supports safety within the learning environment that facilitates further discussion and reflection."
Hannah Brown - Senior Lecturer Mental Health Nursing UWE
"Fliss challenges and inspires the future workforce to see beyond textbooks, encouraging them to understand the person behind the patient. Her contributions ensure that our education remains truly patient-centred, equipping nurses with the empathy, understanding, and practical wisdom needed to deliver compassionate, effective care."
University of West of England
Educate. Empower. Inspire.
Lets start a conversation that matters.
Whether you're curious about booking a talk, bringing lived experience into your education programme or organisation, or simply want to connect -
I'd love to hear from you.
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