An exciting opportunity to be part of the Changing Futures Team, making a difference in the lives of those with multiple complex needs.

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About The Role

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At Changing Futures Sussex, it is important to us to make sure all the work we’re doing has the voice of lived experience at its heart. As part of our commitment to this, we would like to recruit a small volunteer Expert by Experience (EBE) team with previous lived experience of multiple complex needs / multiple disadvantage / multiple compound needs (homelessness, offending/contact with the criminal justice system, substance misuse, domestic violence & abuse, and/or poor mental health).

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This role isn’t about just ‘telling your story’ or repeating your lived experience to different audiences; it’s about being part of team who can represent as many voices of lived experience as possible. We are looking for volunteers who can use their lived experience perspective as well as representing other lived experience voices too, to give a unique insight and really influence changes to improve the systems that are supporting or working with people with multiple and complex needs.

 

The activities you’ll be involved in...

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• Attending meetings or events (usually online but could also be in-person and involve travel) and representing the views and perspectives of people with lived experience such as:

  • The monthly Lived Experience Network meeting

  • The Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG) team meeting

  • Attending our other network meetings such as our Stakeholders and Partners meetings

  • Other meetings with organisations in the Changing Futures Sussex Programme networks or working alongside this work

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• Working on our Systems Change and Co-Production projects alongside members of the team and the Changing Futures network.  By this we mean:

  • Taking part in activities and pieces of work that help to improve or change for the better, the systems and services that people experiencing multiple compound needs need to access.

  • Taking part in discussions and bringing your unique perspective and ideas to the work, both from your own experience and from the experiences of other people who have used/needed services.

  • Using your skills and experiences to help our work make a real difference (e.g. IT skills, presentation skills, group facilitation skills, relationship building skills, design and creative skills, listening skills, administration and organisation skills…really anything you’d like to and feel confident or happy to offer as part of a team)

  • Opportunities to be informed about and take part in other activities, projects, events and pieces of work to improve the system for those experiencing multiple disadvantage (these might be organised by other networks and organisations)

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Some examples of activities our Experts by Experience have been involved in:

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• Interview Panels

• Creating Resources

• Co-facilitating training and presentations

• Focus and discussion groups

• Event planning

• Development of projects and services

• Commissioning processes

• Research

• Various Sussex-wide meetings and forums across lots of sectors

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You can be involved in as much or as little as you feel comfortable!

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Our Commitment to you...

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So that you feel comfortable to work alongside us, we will:

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• Work to create spaces that support you and help you feel safe to contribute

• Work with you in a trauma-informed way that promotes equality and partnership

• Make sure you are as prepared as possible for any activity we ask you to take part in

• Keep you informed of the impact that your contributions have had.

• Use plain, simple language and avoid acronyms as much as we can

• Offer a range and variety of options to allow to be involved in a way that suits you

• Be flexible and adaptable as much as we can to enable you to contribute

• Support you as much or as little as you’d like, to be involved in whatever way you would like to

• Support you with IT and digital equipment access if needed

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What we can offer in return...

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Of course, although this is a voluntary role, we don’t expect you to do all of this for nothing! We have designed and set up a process so that we can repay you for your time and commitment (including any travel costs to in-person meetings), not just financially but also with support to develop your own skills and interests while you’re with us. 

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This will include:

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• Refreshments and/or lunch for any in-person activities/meetings

• Travel via train arranged in advance and tickets sent to you or other travel costs and expenses reimbursed

• Payment of £12.50 per hour (paid via vouchers) for your involvement in Changing Futures work, where you have actively contributed to a task, activity, meeting, group or other piece of work.

• Offering social activities and events where people can get to know each other, network and connect with peers, have fun and feel appreciated. These may include social activities such as picnics, cinema, theatre, etc.

• Providing support and learning and training opportunities so that people can contribute to the best of their ability alongside developing their personal and professional skills

 

 

What we need from you:

 

We need you to:

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• Live in Sussex and have lived experience of multiple complex needs / multiple disadvantage / multiple compound needs (homelessness, offending/contact with the criminal justice system, substance misuse, domestic violence & abuse, and/or poor mental health)

• Be able to share the experience of using and needing services, both your own and other people’s experiences, in a way that highlights the positives, the areas in need of work and how we might improve and change things for the better.

• Be able to talk to and represent the voice of a wide variety of people experiencing multiple compound needs at different stages of their journey.

• Be objective and fair, as well as bringing your passion and commitment.

• Attend meetings regularly, especially if you have agreed to participate in a particular meeting or group

• Be able to do any preparation for an activity in advance if needed

• Be comfortable with speaking in, sometimes, large groups of people.

• Effectively manage your own well-being or have support in place to help you with this.

• Be confident and comfortable to use IT for online meetings such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom

• Be able and willing to travel sometimes to attend in-person meetings and activities (we’ll pay for your travel and expenses of course)

 

Of course, we understand that there may be times that you might need to step away from an activity or may not be able to attend something as planned (illness, personal commitments, change in circumstances).   That’s absolutely fine and we will support you to return when you are able or wish to.

 

If you feel this might be ‘right up your street’ then let’s chat. Give me a call or a text and we can sort out a time to chat about the role a bit more if you’d like to or pop me an email (details below) with a little bit about yourself and why you’d like to be involved, 

 

If you don’t feel you’re quite ready for this particular role yet, don’t worry - there are lots of other opportunities and activities you can still be involved in for the Changing Futures Programme.  Why not drop me an email or text anyway and we can talk about it a bit more?

 

Andree Ralph

Lived Experience Co-ordinator – Changing Futures Sussex

Email: andree.ralph@westsussex.gov.uk   Phone: 07933 182476

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