"Sharing My Referral Experience"

After attending a Change Grow Live Service User Forum, I was asked if I would be willing to share my recent referral experience with members of the team looking to better understand and improve how prospective service users find the process.

Due to COVID, we met online and together with another service user, we were made to feel very welcome and the purpose of the meeting was clearly explained. We moved to breakout rooms where we conducted a short exercise to get to know each other a little better and break down any barriers then returned to the main room where I relayed my story of how I came to become a service user, how easy I found it and how it made me feel.

After answering a few questions, many participants posted their thanks in the chat window which really made me feel that my input was appreciated. The other service user told her story which was very interesting and her experience had been somewhat less straightforward than mine. You don't really consider other service users' experience when going through this yourself.

After a short break, we again split into breakout rooms to address three specific areas and came up with some really interesting and useful points which we presented back to the main group and then heard the other three teams brief some equally insightful and constructive points which I am confident will be taken forwards and incorporated into the user experience shortly.

The event was expertly hosted and supported and all the participants made me feel really welcome and that my input was valued.