Co-production Journey in the West Midlands

In July 2023, SupportED West Mids. collaborated with Reach Out (the West Midlands Provider Collaborative for adult secure mental health services and learning disability and autism services) and Toucan (the West Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative) to create a joint approach to co-production in provider collaboratives throughout the West Midlands.

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Leads and lived experience partners from each provider collaborative joined to form a co-design team. This team met both online and in person over several months to plan a regional event called "Co-production in Action." As a working group, they made all decisions collaboratively, focusing on accessibility and inclusivity throughout the planning process.

The first "Co-production in Action" event was hosted in person at the Birmingham Open Media in October 2023. The event saw participation from around 60 individuals from various roles, including directors, occupational therapists, people who had accessed services, their loved ones, nurses, and ward managers.

The day was highly interactive, aiming to demonstrate best practices for reducing power imbalances and fostering inclusive collaboration. Topics discussed included:

  • Defining "co-production"
  • Exploring the principles and values essential for co-production
  • Identifying barriers to co-production
  • Discussing methods to measure the extent and quality of co-production across services and organisations

After the event, the co-design team reconvened to organise and theme the feedback. They then held a second event in a hybrid format to close the feedback loop and refine their definitions, values, principles, and outcome measures.

Participants expressed a strong preference for practical resources and training to aid in implementing co-production in their workplaces. A "wish list" of desired resources was also developed during this workshop.

In December 2024, the co-design team hosted a final online workshop, sharing draft content with wider stakeholder groups. This led to rich discussions and further feedback on what would be helpful in a regional resource to support co-production.

Throughout the early weeks of 2025, the co-design team continued to meet to finalise a shared resource aimed at supporting co-production within Provider Collaboratives across the West Midlands. This resource is set to be available in Spring 2025, providing valuable tools and guidance for effective co-production practices.

Avatar graphic of woman with glasses“I wanted to take a moment to personally thank each and every one of you for your incredible efforts in making the event a success. I felt it was managed amazingly well and on a personal level it was the best event I have ever co-facilitated and with such a wonderful bunch of lived experiences.

From the very beginning, it was clear that we had a great team of passionate individuals who were committed to making this event unforgettable. Each of your creativity, professionalism, and tireless work behind the scenes truly made all the difference. 

Throughout the event, the hard work and dedication put in was incredible and each of your positive attitude, willingness to go above and beyond, and unwavering commitment of support was so appreciated. 

It was an absolute privilege to work with you as a co-production design team and I felt truly grateful to have been part of this collaborative journey in co-designing this co-production away day as a Lived Experience group. 

Well done for making this such an amazing and memorable event and I THANK-YOU all again for everything that you have done. 

Looking forward to our next adventure together!” – TS (Lived Experience Partner)