Tanya Farley is a mother of James who receives supported living care from Lifeways in Stockport, is the first Chairperson of Lifeways Family Advisory Panel. Here she discusses how lived experience and family insight can transform the future of care and support.
In care and support, one truth remains constant for me: families hold invaluable knowledge about their loved ones’ needs, preferences, and aspirations. Yet too often, this expertise is underused, and providers can sometimes miss a golden opportunity to enhance the quality of support.
That is why I was determined to act. When I reached out directly to Chief Executive Andrea Kinkade via LinkedIn, I sparked a conversation that reshaped how Lifeways engages with families. We had a really honest conversation about my son’s story and my hopes for improving supported living. I just felt it was time to step up.
My son James receives supported living care from Lifeways in Stockport, giving me firsthand experience of the system’s strengths and challenges. This perspective led me to become part of the newly created Family Advisory Panel, which grew out of Lifeways’ Family Checkers Initiative. I was later chosen by fellow panel members to serve as the group’s first Chairperson.
The panel operates as an independent group of Quality Checkers, providing honest feedback on organisational performance, identifying areas for improvement, and suggesting ways to strengthen family relationships. Members also engage in peer-to-peer auditing, visiting services beyond our own loved ones’ to offer fresh perspectives and shared learning. Crucially, senior leaders attend each meeting to listen, learn, and be held accountable. The panel’s insights reach the Lifeways Board, creating a direct line from lived experience to strategic decision-making.
I always say: “The families of people we support hold a huge amount of knowledge. We’ve lived it. So it makes sense to use that experience to benefit not just our own loved ones, but other families and Lifeways team members too.”
My appointment as Chair reflects the power of lived experience in leadership. With more than 20 years of experience running autism conferences and creating safe spaces for difficult conversations, I bring both personal insight and professional expertise. For me, the approach has to be direct: if something isn’t working, people need to feel safe enough to say so. That is how we make things better for everyone.
Looking ahead, Lifeways plans to establish similar panels across every UK region, creating a national network of family collaboration. This will enable shared learning, consistent quality standards, and a unified voice for families throughout the organisation.
The success of the Family Advisory Panel shows what is possible when organisations genuinely embrace families as equal partners. It challenges the sector to move beyond tokenistic consultation toward meaningful collaboration. Families like mine know our loved ones better than anyone. Our insights are essential, not just for improving care, but for supporting teams and shaping the future of services.
For me, the time for genuine family collaboration is now. The question isn’t whether families should be equal partners – but how quickly we can make it happen.
