Sarah Robinson (CFE) and Wayne Richmond and Nicola Plumb (Blackpool Fulfilling Lives) share their reflections on a National Expert Citizens’ Group Workshop
On Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th November 2016 CFE facilitated a two day workshop for the National Expert Citizens’ Group (NECG). The NECG is a group of individuals with lived experience of multiple needs; the group is formed by representatives from each of the 12 funded Fulfilling Lives project areas. The Monday was a training and planning day for the experts by experience. The day focused on training delegates to chair meetings/events and facilitate workshops at events. It was an opportunity to build the confidence and skills of the experts. The activities used to test their skills focused on deciding the direction of the NECG over the next 12 months.
On the Tuesday the trainees chaired and facilitated workshops with other programme staff (mentored and supported by the trainers). This was an opportunity to practice their skills and address some of the challenges around co-production and service user involvement that local areas had been experiencing. At the end of the two days each project area went home with an action plan to improve co-production in their local area – the action plan was created from discussions led by the experts with their service user co-ordinators and project leads.
Wayne, from Blackpool Fulfilling Lives talks about his experience of the two days in the VLOG below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bGBurK6T0&feature=youtu.be&a
Both days received extremely positive feedback with experts feeling more confident and project leads and service user co-ordinators saying they felt that ‘much needed’ conversations had been had and that positive actions were on the horizon.
What a fantastic day it was. [X] and I both came away not only feeling re-energised but also with some clear objectives to pursue in collaboration with our expert representatives who had been involved across the two days. It was also a valuable opportunity to connect with some of my peers in similar job roles, connections I’ve already been able to start building on.
Service User Engagement Lead
Yes it was a brilliant day and all who took part should be really proud of themselves, there were a few who started when I did and to see how confident they are now is AWSOME, so big pat on the back to all who took part and the organisers.
Service User Co-ordinator
…thank you for an awesome 2 days really enjoyed it and hope to be able to do stuff like that again sometime. Enjoyed meeting loads of amazing ppl and listening to every body’s thought feelings etc. Once again thank you and will see you in London ☺
Expert by experience
Where next?
To find out more about the National Expert Citizens’ Group follow them on twitter @NECGUK or on Facebook ‘NECGUK’.
Check out publications from Fulfilling Lives: Supporting people with multiple complex needs that focus on engaging experts with experience: