Most people picture something clinical and cold. Jordan Lee’s story is the opposite.

In this episode of Many Questions, Jordan, an Expert by Experience, opens up about joining the PAX-D trial after years of treatment-resistant depression. A simple Google search led him to it. What he found surprised him. He says he felt more supported during the trial than at almost any other point in his mental health care.

He doesn’t sugarcoat the hard parts. The wait. The eligibility hurdles. The lack of pay. But he’d still tell anyone thinking about research to give it a go.

The conversation also digs into why patient involvement shapes what studies actually measure, the gap between research-led care and standard services, and why recruitment, not funding, is one of the biggest barriers facing the field.

It’s an honest look at what participation feels like from the inside.