The National Survivor User Network (NSUN) has published ‘Not Just a Story’, a report on the experiences of people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress or trauma when engaging with the media.

During the spring and summer of 2025, NSUN surveyed 141 people and ran two focus groups with NSUN members – people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress or trauma – to hear about their experiences and expectations of engaging with the media as people with lived experience. What they heard was clear: the media and its journalists are consistently failing to genuinely and supportively engage with people with lived experience and sensitively represent their so-called ‘stories’.

This research found that people with lived experience of mental ill-health are often motivated to share their experiences with the media because of a desire to raise awareness, provide representation, and advocate to improve the experiences of others. However, even when it might aim to spotlight injustice, provide ‘experts by experience’ with a platform, or challenge the status quo, the media’s approach to extracting and sharing deeply personal and often painful or traumatic parts of peoples’ lives can cause harm.

The report contains guidance for people with lived experience who are considering engaging with the media, as well as guidance for journalists who want to improve their approach.

You can find the report and guidance here: https://www.nsun.org.uk/resource/not-just-a-story-2026/.