We are incredibly fortunate to have two lived experience partners contributing their valuable insights and experiences to our autism workstream.
Our lived experience partners play a crucial role in helping us plan and develop ways to support and improve the experiences of autistic individuals who use our services. Both are autistic themselves and have firsthand experience with receiving care for an eating disorder, which gives them a unique understanding of the additional challenges that may arise.
Our lived experience partners are not just participants; they are equal members of our autism workstream.
They have collaborated closely with Janet, our clinical liaison practitioner who specialises in autism, to co-create a tool designed to review and benchmark the sensory environments in adult eating disorder wards throughout the West Midlands.
To ensure the project’s success, we supported one of our lived experience partners to complete the sensory reviews on the wards with us.
Along with gathering feedback from people receiving care and working on the ward at the time of our review, this involvement allowed us to gain deeper insights and make recommendations for meaningful improvements that better cater to the needs of autistic individuals.
We are committed to continuing this collaborative approach, ensuring that our services are inclusive, supportive, and responsive to the needs of those we serve.