Charter Involvement Event
During the summer months of 2008 it became apparent that the regional restructuring of day services had highlighted the benefits of service user involvement in the consultation and tendering process. It also illustrated the difficulties that service users can encounter when participating in service 'changes'.
From an initial conversation between Kate Dawson, Director of Adult Social Care for East Sussex County Council and Su Barnicoat, Development Manager for Focus on Mental Health it was felt that to create a 'charter' for people using mental health services would be a useful start to pro-actively involving people in broader service delivery.
The two organisations commissioned to deliver service user involvement in mental health services across East Sussex are Rethink and Focus on Mental Health, so some partnership meetings were arranged.
It was felt that to create a robust system of involvement and participation, work was needed to encourage people who use mental health services and those individuals that describe themselves as peer recovery specialists to get involved. The idea of an event was discussed and the structuring and practical issues of the a day took several months to organise.
Arising out of discussions concerning good practice, the work achieved at South West London and St George's NHS Trust, with Dr Rachel Perkins was highlighted. The group decided that a visit to Springfield Hospital where Rachel is based would be an effective way to gather some information. Subsequently a group of 5 individuals from across the county made the trip and the information gathered was then relayed at the event.
Grateful Thanks to:
The organising and London visit team: Gill Stenning, Susan Evans, Margaret Moss,
Nick Soane, Peter Hall, and Pauline Berry.
For funding the event: Kate Dawson
For facilitating and presenting: Rachel Perkins and Ian Watling
For collating the flip chart materials: Gill Stenning
For photos and technical support: Dean Thorpe
