ARC - Scotland - National Involvement Network

National Involvement Network - Choice, Control and Influence

The aim of the network is to help people who use services to have more choice and control over their lives and to see how they can influence the organisations that provide services to them.

The people who use services wanted an opportunity, in a collective environment, to have dialogue with key decision makers exploring their ideas about what future services could look like.

Membership

The Network consists of a group of people who use learning disability services and their supporters who have been meeting since October 2006.

The network now has a membership of 50+ service users and their involvement workers. Sally Dick and Chris Vickerman from Infusion Co-operative facilitate the NIN on behalf of ARC Scotland.

I love meeting all the different people; I feel more confident amongst lots of people now, and I can speak up for myself, I really enjoy being part of the group
- Angie (middle of photo) a member of the National Involvement Network

Investigating Inclusion

The network hosted a premiere performance called: Investigating Inclusion in Glasgow in September 2007. The performance was shown to Chief Executives and Chairs of over 15 provider organisations. Spurred on by the presentations, Chief Executives were required to commit to specific action(s) to improve user involvement in their organisations and to report back to later Network meetings.

Charter for Involvement

Charter for involvement - smaller The Network decided that the next stage was to develop a Charter for Involvement. Members have worked hard on the Charter and it was launched in early 2009.

The Charter sets out the rights people want to involvement, what people want to get out of being involved, the kinds of things people want to get involved in and what they need to be involved.