Involving people with direct experiences of disability and mental health conditions helps us to be more accountable, creative and authentic in our work at Barnwood.

Barnwood Trust is a charitable foundation that exists for the 170,000 disabled people and people with mental health conditions living in Gloucestershire. It is core to our strategy that we hear as many views and perspectives as possible to inform and shape the work that we do.

Involvement work helps us to:

• set priorities
• avoid making assumptions
• make the best use of our resources

In this blog, we will describe how involvement strengthens our work and helps the Trust to be accountable to the people it is here for.

Involvement through Barnwood Circle

The Engagement Team was asked in early 2021 to devise a new membership scheme and ways for disabled people to be involved with Barnwood. As far as possible we co-created what this would look like. We ran a pilot membership scheme at the end of that first year, and early in 2022, Barnwood Circle was formed. Today, we have a member base of about 70 people with direct experience of disability, mental health or unpaid caring – all our members are passionate about seeing much needed change happen in the county.

We often describe Barnwood Circle as the shop window to our involvement work. Becoming a member offers the opportunity to directly influence the Trust. Members attend local meetups, stay connected through a quarterly member newsletter and access a private member area on the Barnwood Trust website. Since launching Barnwood Circle we have co-designed about 15 projects with members; from creating key messages and learning outcomes for a campaign to developing scoring criteria and making recommendations for a themed funding round. (See our blog ‘Involving people: putting principles into practice’)

Cross-team buy-in

Since the early development of Barnwood Circle, we have worked closely with Trustees and colleagues across Barnwood to keep involvement high on the agenda. We are fortunate that staff at all levels are committed and excited to work in partnership with Barnwood Circle members. Gaining insights into the issues and barriers people experience is only part of this; out-of-the-box thinking, fresh perspectives, and a solutions-focus from a diverse group of collaborators  really enhances the impact we can make. Genuine buy-in across the Trust supports the involvement work to be authentic. We think this is part of what motivates Circle members to keep working with us.

Leading with the purpose

We realised quite soon after establishing Barnwood Circle that we needed to be open to adapting it. As the scheme grew, we started asking ourselves questions like: How big is big enough? Can a membership scheme ever offer representation across a geographical area and a range of life experiences? Does the scheme deliver on its original purpose?

At its peak, we had over 120 Barnwood Circle members which was making it difficult to offer a personalised experience for members with various access requirements and communication preferences – an important principle for the team – so we knew that something had to give.

In 2023, we tested with our Board of Trustees whether Barnwood Circle was delivering its strategic purpose for the Trust. We wanted to figure out the best way to make membership as equitable as possible; how best to gather a diverse range of perspectives; and to be clearer about how involvement and governance join together.

Different ways to involve people

In the early days of developing Barnwood Circle, we explored different approaches to involvement and participation. Stakeholder panels work well for many charities; getting the voices of lived experience directly into Board rooms with senior leaders and Trustees. Several of our Board have lived experience themselves, so this raised the question of whether it was enough to hear from a small number of people on a shadow board, for example. As a charity working across the spectrum of disability and mental health, it would be hard for a static panel of people to represent widely enough the perspectives of disabled people and people with mental health conditions across Gloucestershire.

Conversations with our Trustees helped to clarify an approach for Barnwood. The Board wanted to feel confident that decisions are built on evidence. This includes insights from Barnwood Circle members, as well as other sources of evidence from across our work (See our blog ‘The power of evidence-led change’)

Our task was to make different touchpoints at different stages for Barnwood Circle members to meaningfully inform decisions. And this needed to be for a range of people over time. In this way, Barnwood Circle could help us to be more accountable, in an ethical sense.

Multiple touchpoints with our members

How does this work in practice? Well, Barnwood Circle members influence new themes or topics for change work; they shape specific projects through co-design; and they comment on our change activity in a feedback loop (see diagram below). This means that wider member groups comment broadly on our work and smaller targeted groups take a deep dive into specific parts of the work to co-create them with us.

Together, these, and other forms of evidence gathering, help ensure that our decision-making is based on a true picture of what change is needed and how best to achieve it.

To make this doable, we needed to change the parameters of Barnwood Circle. Building in more ways for people to influence us, without compromising on accessibility. This meant lowering our member numbers from around 120 to 70. Plus, to involve a diverse range of perspectives, we needed a 3-year cap on Barnwood Circle membership, so enabling us to refresh our member base and give new people the chance to be involved over time.

Barnwood Circle members make a difference

We are pleased to say that 3 years into the development of Barnwood Circle, members are making a substantial contribution to the work of the Trust. Members’ energy and commitment to the Barnwood Circle community is also extremely positive. At a recent event, members commented on their highlights over the year:

“I have loved discussing topics at the heart of what matters to us, spending afternoons making decisions, choices and explanations along with others.” Barnwood Circle Member, June 2024

“My proudest moment is meeting with employers to discuss their action plans. They were so receptive. It made me proud that I took part in the project.” Barnwood Circle Member, June 2024

“I have enjoyed the safe and relaxed environment, freedom of expression, not being treated as different, not being judged, and an opportunity to educate people and also benefit from their experiences.” Barnwood Circle Member, June 2024

What we are thinking about next

Some of the questions we’re thinking about are:

• How can we engage new members equitably through our targeted outreach?
• What personal development opportunities are members gaining during their time in Barnwood Circle?
• How can experienced members pass on skills and expertise to new people getting involved?
• Are there opportunities to develop disabled leaders in the county, and how can Barnwood Circle play its part in this area?
• How do we balance clear boundaries and expectations in involvement work with the spontaneity that’s often needed in change work?
• What scope is there for Barnwood Circle to amplify the voices of people with direct experience of the issues and barriers we are trying to address?

These and other questions will no doubt continue to occupy the team and the Board as we continue to develop our involvement work at Barnwood.