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Tools, case studies and other resources

Please find below a collection of the resources within the influence and participation toolkit.

Tools

Annual influence and participation planning

This tool can help you identify how people will take part in each stage of your work and ensure people can meaningfully influence your work at the earliest opportunity and beyond.

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Application form

This tool helps those interested to tell you about themselves. It will help you make informed decisions about who should take part.

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Creating a group agreement

If you're asking people to join a one-off focus group or discussion event, a group agreement lets everyone know where they stand and helps to create a safe space for openness and honesty. If you're setting up a regular forum, make sure you have some terms of reference in place so that expectations are clear.

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Defining and refining

You can use this tool to quickly and robustly focus your team around the priority questions and methods that you will take into your influencing activity.

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Developing your opportunity

To make sure you're taking everything into account when planning your activity, you might find this 'Developing your opportunity' template useful. It takes you through all the things you need to consider to promote the optimal opportunity and attract the people you want to reach.

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Facilitation plan

This tool helps ensure your activity/event runs as smooth as possible. From how you present questions to participants and to identifying what resources you will need.

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Feedback form

This template enables you to ask consistent questions across all activities and throughout your organisations, the feedback people give you will help you understand people's experience of taking part and identify changes you can make to future activities.

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Identifying participants

You can use this tool to help you to think about which audiences and particular groups you would like to take part in your work, the methods you need to use and who can help you do this.

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Invoice for involvement

You could use this invoice template as a guide when paying people to be part of your participation activity or develop your own.

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Managing risks

Use this tool so that you can be 5 steps ahead of yourself and plan any risks that might present themselves.

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Setting a good agenda

This tool can help you structure your agenda so that all participants are clear on the topics being discussed and know what is expected of them.

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Thinking about your timeline

Use this tool to situate your influence and participation activities into the bigger picture of your work. This will help you run meaningful initiatives that have the maximum level of influence.

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You said, we did

This tool can help you give meaningful feedback to participants of your activity and be clear in the effect their involvement has had.

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Case studies

  • Champions celebrations – In February 2016, Champions in Norwich were involved in planning and delivering a regional Time to Change Champions' Celebration. These events provide an opportunity for Champions from across the region to network and share skills.
  • Effecting change in the use of restraint (currently updating) – In 2015, Mind's Policy and Campaigns team, in partnership with the National Survivor User Network (NSUN), produced the guide Restraint in mental health services – influencing change in your area.
  • Norfolk and Suffolk recovery college – Norfolk and Suffolk recovery college coproduced a course with Szara Froud, a mental health professional and Anastacia, who has bipolar disorder.
  • Peerfest – Peerfest is an example of successful co-production; each year, different groups of people with lived experience have responsibility for planning, shaping and delivering the overall event.
  • Sarah Rae Mind Trustee – Sarah Rae has been a Mind trustee since 2011. She explains the ways her involvement has benefited her and Mind.
  • Sheffield User survivor trainers – Sheffield User Survivor Trainers (SUST) is a network of mental health trainers with lived experience of mental health problems and using mental health services. By sharing their experiences of influence and participation they are benefiting services.
  • The Mill – The Mill is a local Mind in Oxford, which works collaboratively with people with lived experience. Service users report that the approach taken by The Mill really enhances their sense of equality and inclusion.
  • The Qur'an & emotional health project – Mind, in partnership with Suffolk Mind, embarked on a project to better engage with Muslim groups and meet their emotional needs in a culturally appropriate way. This enabled the development of The Qur'an & Emotional Health: An Introduction booklet.
  • Work, health and disability (currently updating) – In 2016, Mind's Policy and Campaigns team encouraged people with lived experience of mental health problems to take part in a large government consultation on 'work, health and disability'.

Videos

  • Andrew talks about about his participation in the Toolkit development.
  • Anthony talks about the benefits he has gained from being part of the Mancroft Advice Project (MAP) project.
  • Overcoming challenges 1 – Will and Nikki both have lived experience of mental health problems and have participated in various involvement activities in the past. In this film, they give their accounts of when the process wasn't as successful as it could have been.
  • Overcoming challenges 2 – In this short film, Sarah-Jane and Charlotte from Mind discuss some of the problems and challenges explored in this section. Including working with a new local area, evaluation and making reasonable adjustments
  • Charlotte talks about the SCRAP advisory panel that advised Time to Change in the direction of their work.
  • Jonathan Andrews, who has autism, became involved with Mind's work in disability equality after writing an article about autism and anxiety. In this film, Jonathan talks about his experience of taking part in Mind's work and influencing related campaigns at a parliamentary level.
  • Nikki explains her journey working with Mind and Time to Change, the support she received and the benefits she has experienced.
  • Paola talks about how working with people with lived experience of mental health has contributed to the work of Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind.
  • Sarah-Jane talks about the way the Mind equality improvement team works to make the organisation more accessible for different communities, including within the Side by Side programme.
  • Terry explains how his insights from having mental health problems have contributed to various services he has worked within.
  • Tom is an Information Officer at Mind, in his film he discusses how people with lived experience of a mental health problem influence the development of Mind's information resources.
  • Will has taken part in a variety of Mind's influencing activities in this film he talks about the benefits he experience including how taking part helped his self-confidence.

Other ways to get involved

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