This case study evidences PAFRAS's commitment to prioritising service users and incorporating their insights into service designs.
This case study evidences PAFRAS’s commitment to prioritising service users and incorporating their insights into service designs. Reinvigorated as part of the EAR program, the Expert by Experience group focuses on shifting power to amplify clients’ voices across PAFRAS services, foster engagement, and facilitate improvements.
The Expert by Experience group was reinvigorated under the EAR program, serving as a conduit for client voices. Its purpose extends beyond services, including social activities like outings and gatherings. This case study specifically delves into the endeavour of gathering feedback by the group.
Previously, and especially during the pandemic, PAFRAS collected feedback through volunteers over phone calls. In the current initiative, the Expert by Experience group adopted a hands-on approach. The group intended to brainstorm questions and methods for feedback collection, but at the same time, the EAR program provided a template of questions, which the group tweaked to align with PAFRAS’s context and services. Two group members volunteered to carry out the questionnaire during the weekly drop-in session, a primary entry point for PAFRAS service users.
Volunteers introduced themselves as members of the Expert by Experience group, fostering a relaxed atmosphere for open feedback. They encouraged participants to express their perspectives on service improvements, aiming to understand their needs better. The volunteers’ dedication to this task, despite it being their first time conducting these interviews, was remarkable.
The gathered data and experiences will be shared in the upcoming Expert by Experience meeting, where a collective discussion will ensue. The efforts of the group members have strengthened their sense of ownership and commitment to such projects. We will also discuss challenges faced, such as how to encourage more elaborate responses and where to get more training on interview skills for the group.
This endeavour has had a great start, laying the groundwork for enhancing feedback processes. The Expert by Experience group is poised to transition from data collection to data analysis. As insights are translated into actionable steps, PAFRAS’s services will become more attuned to the real needs and concerns of service users.
The Expert by Experience initiative, underpinned by the EAR program, embodies PAFRAS’s ethos of centring service users in decision-making. The journey of gathering feedback showcases the organisation’s commitment to effective improvements and harnessing the potential of service user voices, and to put Experts by Experience at the heart of this process of learning.