My Voice Matters – Co-production as a process to hear and be led by young people’s voices
Sarah Parry and Kate Cudmore from the DCP Faculty for Children, Young People, and their Families take a look at the benefits of co-production to mark Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week.
08 February 2024
Between 2021 and 2023, the Children, Young People, and Families Faculty of the DCP prepared a short briefing document to bring together ideas, good practice, and tips for colleagues working in co-production with children.
Based on a series of stakeholder reviews of existing toolkits and guidance documents with adults and young people with lived experience of engaging with mental health services as well as clinical and research experience, a short guide was developed based on a consensus of key priorities and helpful approaches.
"Co-production with young people is a collaborative model of working in which researchers, service providers and other relevant stakeholders work together with young people to develop research, policy, and interventions.
In mental health, this model has been increasingly embraced due to its potential to generate outputs that are more valid, relevant, and valuable to end users.
Co-production also allows young people to realise their right to participate in decision-making affecting their lives."
- Pavarini & Parker, 2023
Meaningful co-production can increase the application, worth, usability and impact of clinical research and practice, to develop and improve services and outcomes for young people and families.
The My Voice Matters theme of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 is a great opportunity to consider how we can hear young people's voices in our work to guide us now and as we prepare for what tomorrow may bring.
In the design, development, and evaluation of the services we offer to young people, co-production can be a valuable tool for collaboration, listening, and critically reflecting on the work we do and how we do it.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence define co-production as involving the following activities:
- co-design, including planning of services
- co-decision making in the allocation of resources
- co-delivery of services, including the role of people with lived experience in providing a service
- co-evaluation of a service
The development process of our guide identified five key areas we need to attend to when undertaking co-production work with young people and parents:
- Communication
- Empowerment and Inclusivity
- Safety
- Celebrate and recognise contributions
- Facilitate, don't 'fix'
Overall, through our discussions with generous and knowledgeable stakeholders, we heard how important it is to be clear about what a co-production venture aims to achieve, and how.
Managing expectations was a consistent theme of our reading and conversations.
We also discussed how important it is to have a clear structure or framework for the project in hand, which could guide everyone involved and add a degree of predictability to an often fluid and dynamic process.
Having a clear goal to guide everyone towards a shared ambition was seen as uniting and helpful.
However, we also talked about how this framework needs to be accessible, which may well involve ditching the traditional timeline or Gantt Chart for a more engaging visual step-by-step guide as everyone pulls together in the same direction towards an agreed outcome.
A challenge for most of us in the co-production space is that resources can fall short of the ambitions and expectations we set ourselves and others.
Through our stakeholder conversations, we discussed how most people involved in a range of capacities can feel the stress and strain of aspects of the process, which may be managing a limited budget, sharing personal experiences, and worrying about reaching the end point of a project in a way that is satisfying and rewarding for all involved, to name a few.
The creation and priority of creating spaces for respite and support was seen as essential to help navigate these challenges.
Among the many tips and great ideas that came through the process of developing the document, an important triangle of completion was recognised: after care and thanks, celebration and safe endings, and opportunities for further future collaboration.
We develop skills and experience through each opportunity we have to engage in co-production, and we should celebrate these, while recognising that endings can bring mixed feelings.
However, the end of one project may be the beginning of another, and our ongoing development and understanding about co-production can bring new ways for us to work together towards making the next difference in children's services, guided by the voices of the young people we work with.