Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Community service

December 01 2025
The community research café in session. © Lived Insights The community research café in session. © Lived Insights

Learn about the project in York putting people experiencing homelessness at the centre of its mission. By Hayley Johnson, a team member of Lived Insights 

What is Lived Insights?

Lived Insights, established in 2023, is a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in York, led by Astrid Hanlon and Miles Goring.

Having both faced homelessness, addiction and mental ill health, Lived Insights now uses those experiences to make a difference.

“We felt our voices were not heard at a painful time,” says Astrid. “Now, we want to make sure nobody else feels invisible. Change happens when people with lived experience are listened to.”

The CIC’s goal is to ensure York’s support services listen to the people who use them, making help more relevant, effective and compassionate.

At Lived Insights, we believe those who have faced tough challenges know best what needs to change. We listen to their stories, share them with decision-makers and make sure their voices shape services that work.


Our work

We work on housing, health and social welfare projects. In the ‘York Housing Resettlement Review’, we interviewed over 100 people to understand the challenges of navigating homelessness services and helped the council design services that better meet people’s needs.

With local partners, we helped shape York’s Drugs and Alcohol Strategy by drawing on feedback from people in recovery. Their personal experiences with the services highlighted what works, what doesn’t and what matters most.

For the ‘Food Insecurity Project’, we partnered with the community, involving people connected to food provision schemes as co-researchers. By listening to their experiences, we were able to propose improvements to better address food insecurity.


Community café

Beyond research, we create spaces for communities to connect. Our weekly drop-in community café at St Denys, Walmgate provides a welcoming, safe environment for people to share stories and experiences. We also run working circles that bring community groups and local authorities together to drive meaningful change, ensuring services are designed with people, not just for them.

For those who want to get involved, opportunities include joining working circles or contributing as a community researcher. Every story shared and perspective heard brings us closer to fairer, more compassionate support systems across York.

“Support systems are fractured. That's why we do the work we do and why I'm proud of my involvement,” says Miles.


What’s next?

We’re excited about what’s ahead. Upcoming projects include partnering with Healthwatch York and members of the York Poverty Truth Commission on a lived experience research project to strengthen the local welfare safety net and delivering lived experience training for the Swift programme – a North Yorkshire initiative offering advice, support and opportunities for migrants, including asylum seekers.

We aim to grow ‘Roundhouse Connection’ to build a mental health lived experience network and gather more insight into food insecurity across North Yorkshire.

We are guided by a simple belief: those who live it know it best and they should lead change in their own communities.


Get involved

Lived Insights provides a range of services to people in York. Some of the work it is involved in includes: community engagement; training; research; working circles and a community research café open from 1–3pm every Monday at St Denys Community Hub, Walmgate, YO1 9QD.
Learn more about Lived Insights and how to get involved at www.livedinsights.org
If you’d like to work with Lived Insights email contact@livedinsights.org

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February – March 2026 : Progress

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