The possibilities and constraints of service user research collaborations

This chapter explores both the possibilities and constraints of developing a service user research group within the context of a larger mental health and homeless research project. Described is the importance of creating a service user-only research group, and how we rationalized the need for such a research group to a larger research team through a case study of the Peer Qualitative Research Group. This chapter discusses some process learnings, successes, and limitations of developing this research team and contextualizes these limits within broader academic constraints of research production and disciplinary demands. Despite these limits, this chapter argues that service user research and knowledge offer vital teaching and learning tools that help unsettle notions of expertise in human service education and beyond.