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The purpose of this paper is to share Danielle Jeffries’ story.

Danielle wrote a biography of her experiences. Robert then asked a series of questions from the perspective of a mental health academic.

Danielle shared stories from her life, and how her experiences have shaped her, including being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Recovery narratives such as this give us an overview of only a single person’s experiences. However, they allow the person with lived experience to explore their story in depth.

What Danielle has written is very powerful. Her story will give readers an insight into her life and experiences.

There is so much to learn from stories such as Danielle’s. In particular, the way that she speaks about the impact of a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

This is the first time that Danielle has chosen to share her unique story. The value of Danielle sharing her story is apparent upon reading it.

The purpose of this paper is to share Robyn Clegg-Gibson’s story.

Robyn wrote a biography of her experiences. Robert then asked a series of questions from the perspective of a mental health academic researcher.

Robyn shared stories from her life, and how her experiences have shaped her life and herself.

Narratives such as this give us an overview of only a single person’s experiences. However, they allow the person with lived experience to explore their story in depth.

What Robyn has written is very emotional. Her story will give readers an insight into her life and experiences.

There is so much to learn from a story like Robyn’s. In particular, from her experiences of police processes after a crime.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that Robyn has chosen to publish her unique story in the written form. The value of Robyn sharing her story is apparent upon reading it.

The purpose of this paper is to share Laura Scranage’s story.

Laura wrote a short piece detailing her journey and was then interviewed by Robert.

Laura spoke about the difficulties she has faced in life and how her experiences with horses have been deeply therapeutic.

Recovery narratives such as this give us an overview of only a single person’s experiences. However, they allow the person with lived experience to explore their story in depth.

Laura advocates for more research into how horses can be used in therapeutic interventions.

There is so much to learn from a story such as Laura’s, for those who have had similar experiences and for those who work in mental health services.

This is the first time that Laura has chosen to share her unique story.

Our aim is to better understand access to finance and financial inclusion and how this impacts the development of female-run enterprises in Nigeria. In such a way, we can better understand the gendered context of entrepreneurship and the implications for business growth. This chapter adopts an interpretivist paradigm to explore the social reality within which entrepreneurship is enacted. Qualitative data are interpreted from semi-structured interviews of 10 Nigerian entrepreneurs, five males and five females. Findings reveal that, though structural support may be apparent, the entrepreneurial process of financing a business is characterised, in part, by social expectations of gender. It is through this social view of entrepreneurship that we provide an understanding of what it is to be entrepreneurial in practice. This chapter makes recommendations that in practice while financial institutions and policy makers may assume a ‘one size fits all’ approach to financial inclusion through different programmes currently available for entrepreneurs by the various governmental and non-governmental institutions in Nigeria, the context of gender has implications for the nature of business activity, particularly in a society characterised by patriarchy. This study also makes practical contributions for research and for practice.

The purpose of this paper is to meet Dr Joyce Shaffer, PhD, ABPP, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington.

This case study is presented in two sections: a positive autoethnography written by Joyce Shaffer, followed by her answers to ten questions.

In this positive autoethnography, Shaffer shares her life story and reveals numerous mental health and positive aging recommendations and insights for us to reflect on.

This is a personal narrative, albeit from someone who has been a clinical psychologist and active in the field of aging for many decades.

A pragmatic approach to aging is recommended. According to Shaffer, “those of us who can recognize the beat of the historical drummer can harvest the best of it and learn from the rest of it.”

Positive aging has strong social implications. Shaffer considers that it is not only about maximizing our own physical, mental, emotional and social health but also about maximizing that of others, to make our world a better place for everyone.

Positive aging can be experienced despite adversity. As Shaffer says, “Adversity used for growth and healed by love is the answer.”

The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of patient-led co-production.

The New Economics Foundation’s six principles of co-production (nef, 2013) have been used to frame the activities undertaken during the author’s relationship with a community mental health nurse.

This paper describes a co-produced project between a patient and a community mental health nurse to create a range of resources and to deliver training, resulting in mutual benefit for both parties.

This paper invites policy makers to consider the unique role that community mental health nurses can play in supporting patients with long-term challenges that have developed because of an imbalance and an abuse of power within earlier relationships; by adopting a co-production approach, centred on the patient’s interests and skills, a working partnership can be achieved wherein both parties feel that they matter.

Co-production is usually used with groups of stakeholders working together in an equitable way to design or deliver a new service; this paper, however, seeks to demonstrate how the process can be effectively used when the project is patient-led within the context of a therapeutic relationship.