About Us | m-powered

M-powered supports people to use their lived experience to make a difference. We’ve developed a unique pathway that ‘meets people where they are’. It includes counselling and coaching and a highly effective personal development programme called the Peer Leadership Academy. People who complete the programme are invited to join our Peer Leadership Network. Some people go on to join our Strategic Collaboration Group.

People make a difference in several ways and especially via our Lived Experience Managed Service which provides support to organisations. Our end-to-end service includes recruiting and developing Peer Leaders, designing and facilitating insight sessions with our Strategic Collaboration Group, identifying effective lived experience speakers, and most importantly, providing a reimbursement mechanism.

Testimonials

Working with the Peer Leaders brought truly invaluable patient insights into our programme. Unlike other forms of patient engagement, the group members approached discussions without an NHS bias, and their diverse backgrounds meant we benefited from a broad range of perspectives on healthcare. They spoke with confidence, sharing not only their views but also considering the experience and opinions of others.

It was clear they’d received thoughtful coaching, which really showed in the quality and clarity of their feedback. The insights offered were both rich and wide-ranging, and presented in such a practical way that it became easy to take their ideas forward and positively influence our work.

Voluntary Partnerships Manager

NHS England

Working with m-powered co-founders has been a real pleasure. We engaged them to support us in bringing the expertise and perspectives of patients and carers into the development of an NHS innovation toolkit. From helping us to clarify our objectives and shape the key questions, to designing, organising and facilitating two excellent co-production workshops, their support has been invaluable throughout.

Peer Leader input has significantly strengthened the direction of the toolkit, and their openness in sharing insights and personal experience has provided a rich body of material for inclusion in the toolkit.

Senior Innovation Consultant

The Innovation Unit

Peer Leaders have provided us invaluable and unfiltered insight into what it’s like to be on the receiving end of urgent and emergency care. They have shared powerful stories enabling us to shape policy and strategy to meet the needs of people who use services, and to base this on lived experience rather than any assumptions around it.

M-powered co-founders are incredible facilitators and enablers of discussion. They know when to dig deeper into someone’s experience and how to bring out the most useful feedback without ever feeling like they are directing discussion. They are highly skilled in making participants feel comfortable whilst also helping those seeking input to get the best out of the group.

Deputy Director, Hospital Policy

NHS England

As clinicians, we felt confident that a quality advice and guidance service was something worth developing and the key to implementation of a Single Point of Access. Our proposals had met with some resistance; patient concerns were often cited, but without any evidence. The two Peer Leader insight sessions enabled us to hear directly from a range of diverse perspectives.

There’s a danger with healthcare that everybody has their own story and so it is difficult to pull out consistent themes, but the group reached a remarkable consensus. The sessions were skilfully facilitated so that fresh contributions built on what had already been said without taking control away from participants. Authentic patient voices are needed now more than ever, so I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to engage with such a passionate and informative group.

Clinical Sub Dean

Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Meet the team

Jo Fitzgerald MBE

Jo is a co-founder and values‑led leader at m‑powered People and Communities CIC. She brings lived experience insight, professional expertise, and a strong commitment to social impact. She is valued for her authenticity, strategic leadership, and collaborative approach.

Jo believes in people’s innate resourcefulness and is passionate about supporting others to grow and develop. She is a qualified counsellor and transformative coach.

Colin Royle

Colin is a health and care leader with a strong track record in embedding lived experience within national programmes. At NHS England, he helped shape initiatives that strengthened collaboration between services and communities, supporting more inclusive and effective outcomes.

Now a co-founder of m-powered People and Communities CIC, Colin brings a values-driven approach, combining strategic insight and practical experience to support positive change.

Ed Colbeck

Ed is an experienced health strategy, performance and delivery leader, having led national programmes across primary care, community services, elective care, vaccines, and urgent and emergency care. He has consistently championed the principle that the experience of those interacting with health services should guide how they are designed and delivered.

He joined m‑powered People and Communities CIC after seeing first‑hand the insight and impact of the Peer Leaders and Strategic Collaboration Group.

Years Combined Experience

Active Peer Leaders

NHS programmes supported in 25-26

Testimonials

Meet the team

Got a question? We’d love to hear from you.