Organisations are realising the many benefits of involving service users in their work. By drawing on the strengths, experience and expertise of users and their communities and families, you can ensure your services are efficient and meet people’s needs.
But where do you start? How do you find people? How do you make sure people are not excluded, and that their involvement is meaningful?
We can help you with advice, training and support.
How we can help you
All our work is led by experienced professionals in the field of inclusive involvement, who utilise their knowledge, experience, and expertise to ensure that your organisation’s needs and expectations are successfully met. We offer a wide range of tailored services such as training sessions, recruiting lived experience user groups, facilitating workshops, and evaluations.
Download our leaflet to find out what services we offer (PDF)
Find participants
Our Involvement Opportunities Board advertises engagement, involvement, co-production and research opportunities for people who want to have a say and influence in health and social care. We also promote events that are inclusive of service user involvement. If you would like to advertise an involvement opportunity then please contact us.
Visit our Involvement Opportunities Board
Alternatively, if you’re looking for a paid role, we also have an involvement jobs board, listing paid roles with a wide range of organisations from universities to charities.
Learn more about inclusive involvement
Our resources and blogs are free for everyone to access and cover topics such as choosing accessible venues, the benefits of involvement, how to reach out to marginalised communities, and intersectionality.
Ensure your involvement is accessible
My Involvement Profile was designed by Disabled people, to provide a simple template for recording their access requirements and involvement interests.
It comes in a variety of formats, including Easy Read.
Involvement Standards
To read the UK Standards for Public Involvement, designed to improve the quality and consistency of public involvement in research, please visit the UK Standards for Public Involvement website. You may also wish to read about the 4Pi involvement standards, a framework for the involvement of service users and carers, which you can find on the National Survivor User Network website.
What our clients say
Through our ongoing work with Shaping Our Lives to try and build new collaborations between user-led organisations and academic research teams, we have drawn heavily on their extensive experience and expertise in working with people from marginalised communities.
Working together, we hope to increase the positive impact of research in society by making it possible for Disabled people and other service users to be meaningfully involved in research, policymaking, and the design of services which will better meet their needs.
Professor Glenn Robert Chair in Healthcare Quality & Innovation, King’s College London. Read more testimonials and recommendations
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council reached out to Shaping Our Lives to support the recruitment of people with lived experience of health and social care services in Southend-on-Sea for a new user-led community board.
A Shaping Our Lives member of their National User Group joined our recruitment panel and provided considerable insight and expertise into inclusive recruitment helping us to form a board that reflects the diverse Southend-on-Sea community.
Charlotte Humble Commissioner, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Read more testimonials and recommendations.
We have worked with:
ARC East of England (Applied Research Collaboration by National Institute for Health Research, NIHR)
British Association of Social Workers
Department of Health and Social Care
PowerUs European partnership for social work education
RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
Skills Academy of Social Care (no longer operating)
Social Care Institute for Excellence
