This paper aims to outline the development of a lived experience informed complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) Toolkit designed to address gaps in existing mental health resources. Current materials are often cognitively demanding, clinician centred and insufficiently responsive to the identity disruption, emotional overwhelm and nonlinear recovery needs associated with CPTSD. This paper describes how trauma informed design, narrative approaches and experiential knowledge shaped an accessible, emotionally attuned resource to support stabilisation, meaning making and identity reconstruction.
A practice based, lived experience informed methodology guided the toolkit’s development. Iterative cycles of reflection, emotional insight, practitioner feedback and service user engagement shaped design decisions. The process began with the internal realities of CPTSD – fluctuating capacity, dissociation and fear of destabilisation – and incorporated therapeutic concepts only when aligned with lived experience and trauma informed principles.
The development process shows that trauma informed principles can function as a design methodology, shaping content, tone and emotional accessibility. Narrative and metaphor supported coherence, identity repair and engagement during dysregulation. Practitioner and service user feedback highlighted the value of modular, nonlinear navigation, simplified language, grounding cues and visual scaffolding in reducing cognitive load. Lived experience informed design produced mental health resources that were more usable, emotionally safe and responsive to early stabilisation needs.
This paper offers a bottom up, lived experience informed approach to designing mental health resources for CPTSD. It demonstrates how trauma informed principles, narrative identity theory and experiential knowledge can be operationalised to create accessible, emotionally attuned tools that complement clinical practice. It contributes to lived experience scholarship by positioning experiential insight as a methodological strength and provides a replicable framework for developing inclusive, user centred resources.
