Meeting-The-Challenge-Making-a-Difference-Practitioner-Guide

Learning points from Chapter 6
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Service users with personality disorders have often had
experiences of feeling mistreated or invalidated, both as they
were growing up, and later if treated unhelpfully by services.
Becoming involved in contributing to services can enable the
person to use their past experiences in a constructive way, to
contribute to the review, evaluation, delivery and planning of
services.
Service user involvement enables the service user to feel
empowered, to try out new roles and to use their knowledge
and skills, and may be a stepping stone to paid employment
Services benefit from attending to service users’views and
perspectives, which are often refreshing, challenging and
different
It is important that service user involvement is set up carefully,
with thought about who to involve, establishing appropriate
expectations, providing support when necessary, and payment
or expenses if appropriate.
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