In the past few years (particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic), the development of online mental health services has provided an individualised approach to care, supporting people with a lived experience to exercise their rights, choice, and control in their care, treatments, and journey of recovery.

However, the plethora of online services, lack of regulation and inconsistent evidence of treatment outcomes, have placed additional responsibilities to the individual with a mental health condition. We argue that this has fragmented continuity of care, further ostracise family and community connections, increasing experiences of isolation and inadequacies particularly for people experiencing episodes of mental instability.

A key aspect of supporting people experiencing a mental health condition is to connect and engage with family, friends, carers, and community. With the plethora of services and the individualised focus of treatments and services, there is emerging evidence that a lived experience workforce can add value to the recovery process.

A lived experience peer workforce provides insights and personal narratives that assists the ability to navigate the system of care, to someone who is experiencing a mental health condition or in distress. The peer lived experience workforce is shown to be particularly relevant to family and cares, as they undergo their own experiences of confusion and navigation of services for their loved ones.

Future online services will need to integrate an interactive, team approach to care, to provide a more consistent and stable journey to recovery. This includes self-paced navigation, inclusion of peer workforce, family and carers as well as connection to appropriate professionals to enhance treatment outcomes.