How we involve people in our work

Anyone familiar with the current era of public involvement and engagement will know of the enormous increase in ‘involvement’ activities by individuals and groups in the health and social care sector. In recent years, the words ‘participation’ and ‘consultation’ have become fashionable, and national policy and legislation for NHS and social care agencies has given increased priority to service user, carer, and public involvement.  And nowhere but in mental health has the movement of bringing service user experience and influence, through campaigning and representation to leadership, been so dramatic.

Time to Change is obviously part of this and in our national and local projects, people with direct experience of mental health problems check that we keep to our pledge that we are not only informed, but driven, by people who are affected by mental health problems. We speak about
people being at the heart of what we do, and this happens in lots of different and exciting ways where this knowledge and experience is found influencing, challenging, and leading in various aspects of the programme.

Many people with direct experience are employed by Time to Change, from Education Not Discrimination’s workforce of Involvement Workers (read one story here) and the Open Up team and local initiatives, to some in the Central Management Team, evaluators with the Institute of Psychiatry, and some staff in our 28 local projects.

Almost 4000 service users and carers informed the development of our social marketing campaign, helping to identify what the messages and target audience should be.

The way we’re governed and strategically directed is informed by our Lived
Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) – 10 people from across England bringing significant expertise in research, community engagement,
communications, and management, and their networks of local, regional
and national groups.

Hundreds of supporters and project users are finding that Time to Change
is very much part of their own journey of recovery and personal development through the work they’re doing.

We're always keen for as many people to get involved as possible.  Find out more about how you can be part of Time to Change.