Paul Baker, Communications Officer for charity Autism Together, explains how their monthly co-production group has evolved into a cornerstone of their co-production strategy.
At Autism Together we created a co-production group for the people we support to give feedback, share ideas and help shape our charity. We call it the Meeting Together Forum.
The Forum has come together once a month for the past 12 years to discuss a range of subjects relating to our services for autistic people. It is an important outlet for the people we support and an opportunity for them to ask questions and give opinions on their care.
The group is chaired by Julie Logan, our Quality and Assurance Manager. We take the meetings very seriously with an agenda in advance, have minutes taken and shared with the whole organisation, and often have special guests who are invited to speak. It is open to any of the people we support, and they can choose to come regularly or occasionally.
As part of the meeting, the group will plan events such as our monthly disco night, share their good news, and take a look at a relevant easy-read ‘Policy Of The Month’. An example of this was when the group looked at CQC’s report on ‘Reduction In Restraint’. Everyone agreed this was an important topic and had a good discussion on the roles of their support staff.
The group are free to suggest members of staff that they would like to invite to come and speak about their work and answer questions from the forum. Often, forum members request a certain manager or trustee they want to hear from or speak to. Sometimes an external person might speak.
The forum has become an integral part of our charity’s co-production plan, giving the people we support the chance to question senior managers and directors on aspects of their own care, gain a genuine understanding of the policies that are the backbone to the support they receive, and offer a chance to discuss both fun and important matters with their peers in a friendly and social environment.
Perhaps, most importantly, it gives the people we support a chance to use their voice, knowing it will be heard, listened to, and acted upon.
Two regular attendees, Ken and Mike, enjoy the chance to share feedback and thoughts about their care. For example, Ken told the group that if he is feeling down or not in a good mood, he knows that he can talk to his staff team who will support him. Mike said that he finds it comforting to know he can talk to his staff team and they will help him if he needs it.
We have noticed that people’s confidence levels and ability to express themselves in a group setting really improves through attending the forum. Some forum members recently used the confidence they had gained from attending each month to assist our Recruitment Team when interviewing for new support staff.
Members were able to volunteer to sit in on interviews for new staff, answer questions about their care and ask the candidates questions too. Feedback from the interview candidates showed that they really enjoyed getting the chance to meet and talk with some of the people we support, before joining the charity.
Jane Carolan, Autism Together’s Director of Operations, said: “The Forum is a great resource to Autism Together. They have reviewed some of our policies, fed back to us about what it is like to experience support from Autism Together, asked to speak with key personnel from across the organisation.
“All this whilst having fun and growing in confidence. They regularly meet with partner agencies and have shaped support wherever they have been involved.”
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autismtogether.co.uk
