Involving Service Users in Improving Mental Health Practice

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Involving Service Users in Improving Mental
Health Practice

• Marion Clark, Ann Davis, Tony Glynn
• and Jean Jefferies
• Suresearch
• and
• Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental
  Health
• The University of Birmingham, UK
• www.ceimh.bham.ac.uk

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Involving Service Users in Improving Mental
Health Practice

• Transforming services changing lives
• Who was involved in the project
• What we did
• What we learnt from this project
• What we are doing now

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Suresearch

• Network of mental health service users and their
  allies involved in education and research which
  has been in existence for over 6 years
• Based at the University of Birmingham,
  undertaking commissioned research and teaching on
  professional programmes at the University
• Monthly meeting open to all information
  exchange and generating project groups

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Transforming Services, Changing Lives

• Based on experiences of over 200 mental health
  service users in Birmingham who talked to
  Suresearch researchers about their experiences of
  using services
• Research generated seven indicators of what
  services should strive to provide
• This work then used to produce a guide for mental
  health service staff to assist them in developing
  services which
• Reflected the indicators
• Involved service users in planning, delivery and
  management

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Seven Indicators

• VALUE service users as people and experts in
  their own lives
• LISTEN to what service users say about what is
  happening to them and what they want to happen in
  the future
• LEARN from service users about what works for
  them and what blocks their recovery
• ENGAGE with service users on key issues relating
  to their lives, e.g. employment, housing, income,
  personal and family relationships, treatment and
  care options
• WORK WITH service users through exchanges,
  including care planning assessment, directed at
  achieving life changes that support recovery

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Seven Indicators

• CONNECT service users to sources of specialist
  and community based advocacy and advice that will
  promote their rights as citizens
• INVOLVE service users in service development and
  staff recruitment

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Training for Staff

• Staff selected from across services
• Training session for half a day led by service
  users
• Training introduced staff to guide
• Staff then went back to services to apply guide
• Returned to service user trainers after 8 weeks
  to discuss issues that had arisen in implementing
  guide in their service
• Some staff invited service users to come out to
  services to offer consultation

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User Involvement is Everyones Job

• VALUE service users as people and experts in
  their own lives
• LISTEN to what service users say about what is
  happening to them and what they want to happen in
  the future
• LEARN from service users about what works for
  them and what blocks their recovery
• ENGAGE with service users on key issues relating
  to their lives, e.g. employment, housing, income,
  personal and family relationships, treatment and
  care options

• WORK WITH service users through exchanges,
  including care planning assessment, directed at
  achieving life changes that support recovery
• CONNECT service users to sources of specialist
  and community based advocacy and advice that will
  promote their rights as citizens
• INVOLVE service users in service development and
  staff recruitment

Make this YOUR service
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Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental
Health

• Created to promote excellence in teaching and
  learning in interdisciplinary mental health in
  order to improve mental health services
• Considers service user and carer expertise as
  central to its activities
• Has a team which reflects academic, professional
  and service user expertise and works with
• Six Schools within the University
• A range of mental health organisations and
  practitioners
• A range of service users and carers and their
  organisations
• Students with mental health difficulties

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Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental
Health

• The Transforming Services Changing Lives Guide
  is downloadable from
• www.ceimh.bham.ac.uk
• www.suresearch.org.uk