After gaining an MA from Oxford University and pursuing a career as an award-winning filmmaker, Max Carlish decided to use his decades of lived experience of severe mental illness to contribute to mental health research; as chair and founder of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust’s first lived experience research group and then as a National Institute Health Research Pre-doctoral Fellow. Max has also led patient and public involvement for several major NIHR research trials, and co-authored papers and book chapters on various aspects of mental health.