The Key to Everything We Do is User Involvement

Why user involvement?

• The experience and knowledge of users informs innovation in mental health services.
• Users are participants in rather than recipients of their services.
• It offers delivery of national policy objectives.
• It leads to a more responsive and genuinely needs-led service.
• It means effective evaluation and quality management.
• Involving service users brings a unique experience/understanding/knowledge.
• It meets various policy requirements, e.g. the NHS Plan, National Service Framework for Mental Health, Policy Implementation Guide, and Modernising Mental Health Services.
• Some service users reject or find problematic services with a strong clinical or statutory flavour. Services provided by service users can bridge this gap.
• It can promote better services - alternatives and enhancements to clinical, treatment focused intervention; which in turn challenges the status quo which can enable continuous improvement and staff to change things.
• User involvement can challenge in-built prejudices and stigma of the public, staff and other users.
• It can offer therapeutic opportunities.
• It can lead to a more recovery focused service User led services are usually closer to and more integrated with their communities with the possibility for mixed groups and common interests.
• Which in turn means a greater chance of sustainability of support and less dependency on specialist services.
• It promotes skills development - e.g. social, team building, assertiveness, communication.
• It can enable effective evaluation, monitoring and service development