Practicing lived experience leadership with love: Photovoice reflections of a community-led crime prevention project

Abstract

Lived experience leadership is part of a broader international trend toward service user involvement in public services yet little is known about services developed and delivered by people with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Our innovative study, coproduced by two formerly imprisoned community practitioners and an academic researcher, aims to amplify the voices of people delivering and using a lived experience-led crime prevention project. Using Photovoice methods, in which people use cameras to document their realities and advocate for change, we explore the potential of lived experience leadership to drive individual and social change. Some of the compelling images produced by the group are showcased, revealing how in contexts of suffering, social exclusion, and negative expectations, forms of inclusive, loving, hopeful community praxis can be impactful. We conclude that allegiances between community practitioners and social workers could begin to disrupt harmful and oppressive structures and create locally led, hope-filled service provision. To broker such allied practices, we include a self-audit for social and community workers, inviting reflections focused on this ambitious goal.