When we talk about preventing violence, we often talk about systems, interventions, professional practice and evidence. All of these have an important part to play.

But there is another kind of knowledge that deserves to be part of the conversation from the beginning: lived experience.

It can be easy to think of lived experience as a personal story – what happened, what someone has been through, and how those experiences have shaped their life. But lived experience is more than a story.

It can help us understand what it feels like to move through the systems and services that are there to help. It can show us where support works well, where barriers exist, and where even well-intentioned interventions might have unintended consequences.

Most importantly, it can help us see the person behind the experience. Lived experience can help us ask different questions.

• What makes someone feel safe enough to trust a service?
• What might make someone decide not to engage?
• What happens when the immediate crisis is over?
• What helps someone rebuild their sense of safety, belonging and hope?

These questions matter in violence prevention because experiences of violence do not begin or end at the point of an incident or intervention. Prevention is also about what happens before, what happens afterwards, and what helps people move towards a different future.

Creating space to listen, learn and contribute

There is a risk that lived experience becomes something we hear without necessarily allowing it to influence how we think, work or plan. Meaningful involvement asks more of us.

It means recognising lived experience as a form of expertise. It means creating spaces where people can speak honestly, where different perspectives are welcomed, and where people are treated with dignity and respect. It also means being prepared to learn.

The Advisory Board for Lived Experience (ABLE) is part of this work within the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.

ABLE brings together people with experience of violence and adversity, creating a space where those experiences can contribute to conversations about prevention, practice and policy. It is a space to listen, but also to question, reflect and learn.

A space where professional knowledge and research can sit alongside another kind of expertise: knowing what it is like to live through the things we are trying to understand and prevent. There is an important difference between hearing someone’s experience and learning from it.

Learning means allowing experience to shape the questions we ask, the way we understand problems and, where appropriate, what we do differently. That is where lived experience can become part of change.

Looking beyond the moment

Bringing lived experience into violence prevention also means looking beyond the immediate crisis.

What happens afterwards? Can people rebuild trust? Can they find a sense of safety and belonging? Can they access meaningful support? Can they have opportunities to shape their own future? These things matter.

Long-term recovery is about looking forward. It is about recognising that people are more than the difficult experiences they may have lived through, and that with the right support, connection and opportunities, different futures are possible.

Lived experience does not replace professional expertise or research. It sits alongside them. When different forms of knowledge come together with openness, curiosity and kindness, we can begin to see things from more than one perspective. And perhaps that is where the real value of lived experience lies.

Not simply in telling a story, but in being heard, being valued, and having the opportunity to help shape what happens next. Perhaps the question is not only:

“Are we listening to lived experience?”

But also:

“What are we learning – and what might we do differently because we listened?”

Written by the SVRU Advisory Board