Health policy guidelines state that people who use mental health services should be involved in the development of the services they receive (Department of Health, 1999). Examples of good practice in this respect are reported from staff recruitment (Diamond et al, 2003), research (Trivedi & Wykes, 2002) and training (Repper, 2000; Harper, 2003). However, support for user involvement is not universal (Summers, 2003; Soffe, 2004) and, most significantly, there is considerable confusion about what is meant by involvement. The following case study will address these issues by: (a) adding to the evidence regarding the successful involvement of service users in training; and (b) clarifying the process by which involvement can be safely achieved.