“Beds went. People didn’t”: poetic inquiry and forty years of social inclusion in the London Borough of Bexley, UK

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use Mind in Bexley’s 40th anniversary to examine lived-experience testimony on social inclusion in community mental health and to explore poetic inquiry as a form of participatory analysis. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual case study centred on Mind Open, a collective research poem composed from lived-experience and community testimony gathered across nearly two decades. Participant-adjudicated by lived-experience researchers, it is read alongside organisational chronology and social inclusion policy, 1984–2026. Findings Seven themes emerge: discharge without belonging; ordinary rooms as inclusion infrastructure; unpaid carers as an overlooked constituency; user involvement as knowledge production; peer support as recognition; relational time against measurement; and remembrance as care. Inclusion emerges as relational practice rather than an outcome delivered. Research limitations/implications The poem draws across several studies rather than a unified data set. Findings are situated and interpretive, supporting analytic rather than statistical generalisation. Practical implications Commissioning should fund premises, continuity and relational infrastructure; recognise unpaid carers; resource peer support and lived-experience involvement; and value creative practice as analysis and governance. Social implications Social inclusion depends on belonging, recognition, continuity and places where people can be known over time, not simply service access. Originality/value The paper positions participant-adjudicated research poetry as an analytic method for organisational history and policy implementation, and the local Mind as a site where inclusion policy is delivered and contested.