Livedexperienceis expertise
From the nightmare to the dream. From welfare to wellness. From client to colleague. From lived experience to lived leadership.
Lived experience is not simply a story about what happened to us; it is wisdom about what must happen next.
The event is not the movement. LEX members are the movement.
For five years, members of DC's Lived Experience Advisory Council have turned their stories, wisdom, courage and commitment into leadership, advocacy, outreach and systems change with the Child and Family Services Agency's Keeping DC Families Together and Thriving Families work.
The Love More Movement walks alongside LEX as facilitator, coach and thought partner, while LEX members remain the owners, voices and leaders of their own movement.
Dr. Bruce Purnell is the lead trainer for LEX in DC, and is now bringing the model to agencies, councils and communities across the country.
People are the medicine, not the patients.
Love, Joy, Healing and thriving are birthrights.
From the nightmare to the dream
A shared journey that lets every member decide how their own story fits within it.
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Movement 1
The Nightmare
Acknowledging trauma, family insecurity, grief, crisis, stigma, silence, system involvement, and the moments when survival became the primary goal.
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Movement 2
The Awakening
The first experiences of being heard, believed, invited, supported, and introduced to people or opportunities that made another future imaginable.
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Movement 3
The Cocoon
Healing, reflection, relationship-building, learning, leadership development, and transforming pain into wisdom, without rushing the process.
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Movement 4
The First Flight
Moving from participation to ownership, from voice to influence, and from receiving support to helping shape support for others.
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Movement 5
The Dream We Are Living and Building
Wellness, family unity, purpose, joy, agency, emotional and economic stability, shared power, and LEX leadership in the systems that affect families.
We moved from being spoken about to speaking for ourselves, from being invited to participate to sharing ownership, and from surviving systems to helping transform them.
What transformation looks like
Healing does not require forgetting the past. It changes our relationship with the past, so pain no longer holds exclusive sway over identity, choices, relationships and the future.
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Identity
We are no longer defined only by a case, crisis, diagnosis, loss or system encounter. We reclaim our gifts, names, stories and possibilities.
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Voice
We move from being spoken about to speaking for ourselves, and from testimony after decisions are made to influencing them before they are made.
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Agency
We gain the confidence, information, relationships and opportunities to make meaningful choices and act on them.
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Connection
Healing grows through trusted relationships, Brave Spaces, mutual support, culture, family and community.
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Leadership
Lived experience becomes guidance, co-design, mentoring, advocacy, research, storytelling and systems change.
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Thriving
More than the absence of crisis: wellness, purpose, joy, stability, belonging, contribution and the ability to imagine and build a future.
From advisory participant to legacy leader
The Core Advisory Board is the First Flight: the first LEX members to move from participation to ownership, from voice to influence and from receiving support to helping shape support for others.
“First Flight” honors sequence, contribution and responsibility. It is not a permanent hierarchy or a judgment of human value. The First Flight accepts a continuing responsibility to widen the path, mentor the next tier of LEX leaders and help turn lived experience into guidance, advocacy, co-design and systems change.
A conscious shift from surviving to thriving
The real deliverable is a conscious shift: LEX members believe they can move from surviving to thriving, and create a ripple that influences families, communities and systems.
The LEX 211 table
Present at every DC Housing Authority event supported by the Love More Movement, connecting thousands of DC residents with the 211 Warmline and a message of Hope.
More than information
LEX members help vulnerable families know that support exists, and that moving from the nightmare to the dream is possible.
Every outing, a lesson
Each outing ends with a debrief connecting outreach to advocacy, communication, mental health, reflection, teamwork and leadership.
Belief spreads
When LEX members believe in their own ability to heal, thrive and lead, that belief reaches their families and then the greater community.
Six agreements we keep
We honor truth, dignity, consent, confidentiality, respect, learning, healing and shared responsibility.
Truth
Everyone has their Truth and is entitled to their Truth.
No debate
We do not edit, correct, invalidate or debate another person's lived experience.
One voice
We listen to understand, speak from our own perspective and practice one voice at a time.
Confidentiality
We uphold confidentiality and ask permission before sharing another person's story.
Care
Everyone has the right to pass, pause, step away or take care of themselves.
Repair
We challenge ideas without attacking people and stay open to accountability, repair and growth.
Who poured into the journey
We honor not only funding, but also trust, access, coaching, visibility, encouragement, opportunity and the willingness to believe in what LEX members could become.
- Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)Leadership, sponsorship, access and space for lived experience to shape the work
- Doris Duke FoundationInnovation through a lived-experience framework
- Annie E. Casey FoundationPartnership, capacity-building and sustained belief
- Casey Family ProgramsFive-year investment in the DC LEX movement
- Foster AmericaSupporting systems change in DC
- Think of UsChampioning LEX in DC
Wear the transformation
LEX is a program, not a product line. But the LEX Street Team apparel tells its story. Designed for the 211 LEX Street Team, it is a visible sign of the journey from surviving to thriving and from client to colleague.
Every hoodie, polo and backpack in the LEX Collection highlights that transformation.
From welfare to wellness. From surviving to thriving. From nightmare to dream.
People can make this journey when they are heard, resourced, loved and invited to lead. The dream is already visible in LEX members, and in the path they are creating for the DC families who will follow.
Bring LEX to your community
Agencies, foundations and councils: we train teams to center lived experience from the very beginning.