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Reports

This is the main report that combines the data that was gathered from all 8 team's reports along with our programme team's continuous evaluation activities.

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PDF version

Single page PDF version

Quick Read

Quick Read Audio

Accessible versions on Google Drive

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Report Summary

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This is chapter 1 from the full report, which contains a summarised version of our findings in 20 pages.

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Reflective Learning Resource

The Reflective Learning Resource is intended to help people on their co-production journeys. It contains some reflective templates that are intended to be adapted, as approprioate, for each specific project or context.

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Template 1 as an editable PDF file

Template 2 as an editable PDF file

Template 1 as a Word document

Template 2 as a Word document PDF file

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Recordings of our public events in this programme follow below

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This is the recording of our Celebration and Learning Event which was held on 5th December 2024.

The 'project overviews' is the part of the event where the teams' summarise their work in their own words.

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00:00 Welcome

10:56 Reflective listening resource

17:58 Project overviews

1:56:34 Collective Programme Output

2:11:25 Questions & Answers

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Events supporting the funding application process

This is the recording of the presentations from our second event, the Networking and Connection event which was held on 17 October 2023.

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‍00:00 Programme Overview
‍02:35 Value of Co-production: how this relates to our criteria
‍07:16 Previous co-production pilots              

‍13:33 How and what we’re looking for in applications – the detail!
‍24:38 Evaluation support, what we’re looking for and case studies
‍40:57 Evaluating ourselves – a working example!
‍44:40 Community reporting

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This is the video of our launch event on 12 September 2023.

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00:00 Introduction

04:57 Programme overview

20:38 Questions & answers

26:03 Applying values and principles

30:43 The value of co-production -rapid review

36:21 The principles of co-production

42:35 Evaluation, learning & sharing

58:14 Round-up and what's next‍

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Funded projects

We are pleased to introduce the 8 projects that we worked with as part of the programme. We feel that the variety of the funded projects reflects the breadth of the different applications that were submitted.

More information about each project is available on pages 96-121 in our report.

Co-producing an evaluation of the Aphasia New Music Group

Over 350,000 people live with aphasia in the UK. Aphasia refers to difficulties with speech, language and/or communication caused by a brain injury, such as a stroke. Aphasia has a profound impact on quality of life and emotional wellbeing, and long-term support is needed to overcome barriers to find new ways of doing things.

The Aphasia New Music Group (ANMG) is a collaboration between people with aphasia, family, musicians, and Speech and Language Therapists. To date, they have co-produced a music practice, with public performances and visits to community groups across the country. So far, co-production has been central to ANMG’s creative process, but not the way in which it is evaluated.

Aim: To co-produce a method of evaluating the impact of creative music-making on the lives of people with aphasia (language difficulties acquired after brain injury).

Rationale: The project team wanted to learn whether participation in music sessions benefited people with aphasia in ways that matter to them, rather than in ways that researchers might think are important. While co-production has always been central to the Aphasia New Music Group’s (ANMG) creative activities, this project focused on co-producing our evaluation of the impact of these activities.

Closing the Loop Beyond the Loop: Strengthening Partnership Working with Meta-Co-Production

The initiative, inspired by members of the Cavendish Square Group’s Lived Experience Advisory Group in collaboration with the pan-London 'Safety and Equality in Mental Health Inpatient Settings' (SEMHIS) project, explores the concept and value of ‘Meta-Co-Production’ as a way of measuring success and strengthening mental health co-production. Meta-co-production relates to the reflexive process of co-producing co-production itself and making sure we are learning from the experience of the process and closing this loop.

Aim: The project aimed to co-design an evaluation and learning tool to strengthen co-production within an existing mental health in-patient transformation programme.

Rationale: Co-production often lacks standardised frameworks for evaluation. By integrating lived experience and research, the team sought to create a practical tool that mental health providers could use to meet evidence-based standards. This aimed to define “good enough” co-production, while supporting continuous improvement in co-production practices using evaluation as a tool to assess co-production.

Co-Production from the Inside Out: finding freedom in a secure place

Aim: the project's goal was to improve engagement and then share an understanding of innate health with a women’s refuge developing and delivering a 6-week mental wellbeing course.

Rationale: Improve engagement and share our understanding of a psychological wellbeing approach – Innate Health. At the heart of our project was the goal of delivering a 6-week mental wellbeing course using the ‘Innate Health Approach’ to the staff of a women’s refuge. This is grounded in two universal truths: (1) everyone can have access to psychological wellbeing and wisdom, regardless of their circumstances; (2) our perceptions of life are shaped by moment-to-moment thinking. We believe that recognising these truths enables us to experience peace of mind and contentment, leading to behaviours that reflect our inherent kindness and benevolence. We wanted to share this with organisations and individuals to reduce psychological distress for those who have experienced some kind of social injustice or trauma in their lives.

Promoting Mental Health Conversations at the University of Warwick

The UK has a mental health crisis, particularly among young people. Within Higher Education, universities increasingly face pressure to address this escalating mental health challenge. Yet, conventional support structures frequently find it challenging to adapt to students’ changing needs and preferences.

Aim: The primary aim of this project was to promote conversations about mental health between staff and students at the University of Warwick. The goal was to create a resource that would support and encourage these conversations, increasing confidence in discussing mental health struggles and support needs.

Rationale: This project stemmed from the recognition of the growing need for mental health support within the university. By fostering open dialogue about mental health, the project aimed to reduce stigma and provide both staff and students with the tools and confidence to seek and offer support.

Homelessness and Dual Diagnosis: A co-production project

This project is a collaboration between people with lived experience, Pathway and Change Communication.

Aim: To create a resource to increase awareness of dual diagnosis (co-occuring mental health and addiction issues) in the homelessness sector.

Rationale: Dual diagnosis is an under-addressed issue in the homelessness sector, often misunderstood by practitioners and policymakers. We wanted to improve awareness and service delivery by reflecting the unique insights of those with lived experience. We did this by focussing on developing accessible and impactful communications to a range of people relevant in the lives of those with lived/living experience.

Exploring Neurodivergence and Maintaining and Acting on Eco-Hope

Nifty Sustainability supports individuals and organisations to embed sustainability in their practices. Through they work, they’ve observed that many people involved in sustainability identify as neurodivergent, often bringing with them important skills and characteristics such as profound empathy, creativity and systems thinking. However, working in the context of climate, ecological and social emergencies takes its toll and can lead to a loss of hope and paralysis around what to do and how to do it.

Aim: To co-produce an accessible pilot learning opportunity and evaluation framework to support neurodivergent people working, or studying in sustainability-related areas.

Rationale: The project sought to explore how neurodivergent experiences shape approaches to climate action and eco-hope, through fostering a safe, inclusive environment.

Assessing the Impact of Co-Production in Fostering Equality and Diversity in Mental Health and Wellbeing Research

The project is made up of a collective of UCL researchers and clinicians and representatives from and allies of minority and marginalised communities of people with lived, or living experience of mental health and related areas of neurodiversity, to guide the newly founded Centre for Equality Research in Brain Sciences. The Centre is dedicated to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in mental and neurological health research.

Aim: To co-produce strategic priorities for mental and neurological health research by the newly established Centre for Equality Research in Brain Sciences (ERB) at UCL.

Rationale: Scientific discovery relies on research funding. However, it is well known that research funding allocation is biased against minorities in science, including well documented gender and racial bias. We aimed to co-produce what our centre will fund and how it will fund it to minimise such bias. We also hoped to co-evaluate and model such efforts so we can influence other funders, particularly around small funds that are critical to let early career scientists ‘get on the science ladder’.

The East of England Psychological Professions Co-production Group

Psychological Professionals, the University of East Anglia and people with lived experience worked together to develop new content for the teaching of a postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and to introduce trainees to the concept of co-production.

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Further information

For further information about this programme or if you would like to discuss any aspect of co-production, please contact us at: coproduction@ucl.ac.uk

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