Pathways to Independence

Brighton Carnival

Participation is a critical aspect of Pathways to Independence’s approach. In order to ensure an excellent service, it is critical to get the views of the young people in our care before and after they come into our accommodation. We have a dedicated member of staff whose remit it is to increase participation levels with all of our young people.

We also aim to involve stakeholders and referring local authorities in our service, and we constantly look for feedback from them. Only through speaking to those who use our services can we know what they want and how we can improve what we offer.

Everyone at Pathways works hard to understand our service delivery from the eyes of the service user. and works hard to constantly gather feedback and ideas that can shape the future of our services.

Regular meetings, feedback sheets and ongoing dialogue help us to ensure that everyone can participate in shaping the future of Pathways.

In 2011-2012, Pathways’ Participation and Development Manager, Roz Evans, will be working with young people to conduct young person-led research and evaluation about their experiences of Pathways’ and other services (e.g. social services, education and health services) in the UK. This will involve working with local partners in Brighton and Croydon and training young people in research and evaluation methods. Young people will conduct interviews and group activities with their peers to find out how they feel about the services they receive, any suggestions they have for improvement, and what independent living skills they would like more help with. We will use their findings and recommendation to improve our existing services and develop our independent living skills programme, which will include some young person-led sessions and resources.

One Future, Different Pathways