Service user involvement
Diverse Cymru believe that people who have personal experience of accessing services are valuable ‘experts by experience’, They are best placed to know what services are needed and how existing services and access routes can be improved.
This is why we developed a service user involvement project, so we can work together to have a louder voice in the community, service development and decision making processes.
Everyone’s input is important, why don’t you get involved? Some of our current involvement opportunities are listed below.
Consultation forum
We are often asked to give feedback to the Welsh Government and other service providers on specific issues.
We get the information we need to do this by running service user forums where people can voice their experiences, needs and concerns.
Peer support group
If you use our direct payments service you will automatically be invited to a peer support group meeting.
The peer support group provides you with the opportunity to meet other people who use direct payments to share experiences and get support.
The group also invites speakers from the local authority and other organisations to give presentations on topics of interest.
This group is facilitated by the Service User Involvement Officer and is led by service users.
Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University
Service users are invited to take part in various activities at the universities, including:
Interviewing new social work students
Taking part in lectures
Involvement in committees
Disability access group
Diverse Cymru’s disability access group assesses building plans for the local authority to ensure that they are accessible and have appropriate facilities for disabled people.
Meetings are generally every 6 weeks. They include guest speakers and discussion of relevant access issues.
Members are actively involved in the assessment process through ‘access observations’ and site visits.
For more information about the project or an involvement opportunity please contact Annie Duddridge on 029 2036 8888 or email annie@diversecymru.org.uk
