Publish date: 16 April 2025
To mark Autism Acceptance Month, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is highlighting the valuable contribution people with lived experience are having.
Ben Stunell, peer mentor at AWP’s Bristol Autism Spectrum Service (BASS) uses his own lived experience with autism to remove barriers and improve the services and support provided. His story is being shared in a new video produced by AWP which is being shared across its social media platforms.
Ben said:"I feel extremely grateful to have been given the chance to work as an autistic peer mentor with BASS over the last nine years. My role enables me to come alongside other autistic adults by offering a listening ear, and to share support that has come out of my own lived experience. The value of being able to say ‘I’ve been there too and here’s what’s helped me’ is extremely rewarding.
“I've also been able to help with service design and future planning within AWP through involvement ensuring the autistic voice is at the centre of service development and improvement.”
Louisa Foxwell, peer support and lived experience practice lead at AWP said: “At AWP personal recovery is at the heart of what we do. Our valuable peer workers, volunteer peer mentors and lived experience practitioners help others by sharing their own recovery journey, promoting hope and providing support based on shared experiences.
“Peer and lived experience roles are embedded across many of our clinical services at AWP, from eating disorders and autism to complex emotional needs services. We are excited to launch new services this year in area such as The Kingfisher, the Offender Personality Disorder Team and many more.”
