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Mind in
Taunton & West Somerset
Service User Involvement Policy
It is our policy to involve service users at every
level of the organisation.
As part of our commitment to ensuring the full
participation of service users, we hold open Muse (Mind User
Steering Enterprise) group meetings. The Muse group is our
advisory group and meets quarterly, with service users from all
projects attending.
Before incorporation we held open Executive
meetings; Board membership is now open to service users with the
appropriate skills and experience, as places become available.
Service users would not be brought onto the Board solely to speak
on other service users’ behalf. They would be seen as contributing
to the full range of issues that the Board has to deal with.
An annual whole organisation event is planned for
all our service users, members, staff, volunteers and Board
members. We have been actively involved in Campaign for Change
which gives a voice to service users, and our Day Project, Peace
of Mind, holds user-only meetings. Peace of Mind attends Rydon
House, the local acute unit, weekly. Service users are on the
Steering Groups of all projects, and our constitution is available
in one-page summary form.
An informal ‘buddying’ system for the induction of
new Board members aims to smooth the path to full user
participation, and training in participation skills will shortly
become available. In West Somerset service users are already
leading the mental health awareness training.
User involvement will be reviewed annually by the
Board as part of its work programme.
For anyone involved in the organisation who wishes
to be involved in the decision-making process (e.g. interviewing
and attending Muse Group meetings), we have a policy of paying
expenses, such as travel or child-care expenses.
Our web-site www.mindtws.org.uk contains
information on all our work and outlines some of the ways you can
get involved. The Association would welcome your comments and
ideas at any time on how to improve true user involvement. For
more information on any aspect of service user involvement please
contact the Association Manager.
November 2004 |
www.mind.org.uk