We’ve created a set of underpinning organisational documents, developed in consultation with project staff, volunteers and participants with lived experience, aimed at creating a ‘backbone’ of resources and guidance for any new participation project to launch from.
On this page, you’ll find these resources available to download and adapt for your own lived experience work. Please let us know if you use these documents and find them helpful!
The resources available to download are:
Introduction to Lived Experience Work – A guide designed to help everyone across Justlife understand our organisational approach to lived experience participation and leadership. Contains practical “preparing for participation” steps.
Ethical Principles for Lived Experience Participation at Justlife – The ethical framework that underpins our lived experience work, and explains why we do our lived experience work the way we do
Payment Policy – Our organisational guidance on fair and ethical payment and reimbursement for participation
Research Ethics Policy – Our broader principles for ethical, non-extractive research.
Please get in touch if you’d like to chat more about any of these, or if there’s something else you’d like information on that isn’t covered here. As we develop more resources, we will continue to share them here.
One of the things we’ve learned at Justlife through years of developing our lived experience-led work is that getting projects off the ground takes time. Building relationships, developing a shared sense of ownership, and shaping projects from the ground up are all processes that can’t be rushed.
However, before projects can even begin, the practical and logistical considerations are just as important to help you start well. Planning these aspects well can often be the difference that leads to meaningful, impactful and sustainable participation work. Our documents will provide insights to how you can answer planning stage questions thoughtfully, such as:
What will people get out of participating?
Will you reimburse people for their time?
What’s the purpose of your lived experience participation activities?
How will you embed the learning from your participation project in your organisation?
What frameworks are you working within to make sure your work is productive but not extractive or harmful?
What practical resources and time will be needed to run your project effectively?
Please feel free to download our resources and use them as guides or templates for your own work. All we ask is that if you do use them, you let us know. We’d love to hear about the impact these documents have on your work.
Head to the Peer Research page to find out more about community and peer research, and the Common Ambition website to find out more about co-production and service design work.
