Shoulder to Shoulder by With-you
Welcome to Shoulder to Shoulder
Shoulder to Shoulder is a podcast about the power of peer support and lived experience, and what happens when people who've been through tough times use that experience to help others.
But what is peer support? It's simple: people who've faced their own challenges offer understanding, connection, and hope to others going through similar challenges. That's the meaning of peer support, and it's at the heart of everything we do.
In a world that can make us feel alone when we're struggling, this podcast is a reminder that connection changes everything.
I'm Cate Munro, and each episode I talk with people who've faced real challenges - mental health struggles, addiction, trauma, grief, life-changing moments - and who now stand shoulder to shoulder with others on their own journeys.
My guests include peer support workers, people running peer support groups, and individuals whose lived experience has become their greatest strength.
They share their stories honestly: what happened, what helped, and how peer support made a difference.
Whether you're a peer support worker, thinking about becoming one, part of a peer support group, or simply believe in the power of human connection and shared experience, there's something here for you.
Before you listen: This podcast explores personal stories of growth, mental health and resilience. Some episodes include descriptions of trauma and distress. Please trust your instincts and look after yourself - it's always okay to pause or come back another time.
Thank you for being here.
Find out more about With-you Consultancy at www.with-you.co.uk
Shoulder to Shoulder by With-you
EP 38: “Your Life Is Not Over”: Michael John Norton on Psychosis, Recovery, and Peer Support
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At 19, Michael was living with psychosis - hearing voices, seeing things other people couldn’t, and trying to hold himself together while training as a nurse.
In this episode, he takes us right into the moment it all collided: on a hospital ward, caring for someone who couldn’t move or speak, while the voices in his head were telling him to end his life. It was the night he lost nursing and, for a while, lost himself too.
Michael speaks honestly about what came next: the secrecy, the stigma, the friendships that disappeared, and the deep depression that followed. He also talks about identity, including what it meant to come out as a gay man in Ireland, at a time when shame and silence were already crushing him.
But this is also a recovery story - and peer support sits right at the heart of it.
Michael explains what personal recovery really means when symptoms don’t just disappear. The daily work. The coping tools. The planning. The small choices that keep you one step ahead. And he shares how peer support works in practice - not as “telling your story”, but finding the overlap between two lives and building trust from there.
We also get into lived experience as knowledge - why peer work can’t be supervised using a clinical model, and why the heart of peer support is equality, relationship, and real-world connection.
Most of all, Michael leaves you with one clear message:
Just because you live with psychosis, your life is not over.
Listen if you’re interested in: psychosis, voice-hearing, stigma, identity, personal recovery, WRAP, and what peer support looks like when it’s done properly.
Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk