USER AND CARER FORUM UPDATE -
Citizen Leadership Event - 23rd April 2008

23 April will see the launch of the Principles and Standards of Citizen Leadership, an important initiative of the Changing Lives programme. This document describes in very practical terms what is meant by Citizen Leadership, and gives examples of how to provide opportunities for people who use services and family carers to develop their leadership potential.

So the launch on 23April, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow, will be a time both for celebration and reflection: we will celebrate the fact that this document exists and has come into being through the experiences and efforts of a small group of people called the User and Carer Forum. But we will also reflect on the question “What next?” What is needed to move this idea of Citizen Leadership from paper into the thoughts and actions of the general population?

The launch event is called “Leading Together”. This title suggests a number of things that the User and Carer Forum have wanted to emphasise in their work. It suggests that leadership is a collective thing, not an individual thing. Football lovers will be well aware of the manager’s cliché that he wants one captain on the pitch, but eleven leaders.Everyone’s leadership potential should be recognised, and nurtured. And when people show leadership, it is not just for their own good, but for the benefit of others.

But the title also suggests something about the relationship between the people who use services or their carers, and providers of services. Just as Citizen Leadership needs to be nurtured, strong professional leadership at all levels is needed.When that happens, leading together can become a reality.

Citizen Leadership Training Two local authorities in Scotland will pilot a brand new training course in Citizen Leadership in the next few months. North Ayrshire and the Scottish Borders will host this course which is for people who use services, family carers and professionals. The aim of these pilots is ambitious. It is to build up the leadership skills of individuals who use services and carers, so that they can start to influence the services they get, both personally and with services more widely. At the same time, the training programme will work with those providing these services, to develop a service culture that encourages Citizen Leadership. The two groups will work separately for part of the time, and together at other times. Three months on, participants will come back together to assess the impact that the training has had. If this model proves to be effective, there is the possibility of rolling it out to other parts of Scotland.

These training materials are being developed and delivered by four organisations: The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability, Heartfelt, The Edinburgh Development Group and Ark. The User and Carer Forum are closely involved in both the development and the delivery of these pilots and we look forward to reporting back on progress.

Both the Leading Together event and the Citizen Leadership Training programmes have been funded by Changing Lives. If anyone would like to know more about Citizen Leadership, please contact andy.m@scld.co.uk.

USER AND CARER FORUM UPDATE - Autumn/Winter 2007

Since the last newsletter the User and Carer Forum has produced a document called Principles and Standards of Citizen Leadership which is in its fourth draft, building on comments received from people outside the Forum including the National SocialWork Services Forum and the Practice Governance group.

Citizen Leadership — the background

James Mckillop explains how the idea of Citizen Leadership came about during the review of social work services.

‘We were asked about developing leadership in the social services workforce and our response was that people who use services should be able to show leadership too. We called this citizen leadership and it became one of our big ideas in our response.’

Andy Miller from the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability (SCLD) explained some of the work that went into establishing the principles.

‘The User and Carer Forum wanted any debates and developments around leadership in social services to focus on how people who use services and carers could also be leaders. Discussions took part in the forum about good and bad experiences in receiving services. The Forum was seen as a good example of leadership so we explored what made it good and how it encouraged leadership.We also looked at similar principles and standards, for example the National Standards for Community Engagement from Communities Scotland. The Forum then developed their eight principles of Citizen Leadership.

Part of our discussions, were about how Citizen Leadership differs from user involvement and other forms of participation. In short, Citizen Leadership is what happens when citizens have some power, influence and responsibility to make decisions. Citizen leadership happens when individuals have some control over their own services. It also happens when citizens take action for the benefit of other citizens.’

The eight principles of Citizen Leadership, developed by the User and Carer Forum, are:

At the National Practitioner Conference in Dunfermline, members of the User and Carer Forum explained why they wanted to develop and promote Citizen Leadership.

‘People must be treated with respect; their perspectives listened to and understood. We must be seen as human beings no matter how challenging our conditions may be.’
Andrew Denovan

‘I felt they were not listening to what was important to us. Some things are more positive now I have a direct payment. I can buy my own services and have more flexibility.’
Jane Hope

The User and Carer Forum want the principles of Citizen Leadership to become a common reality for people who use social work services and for the professionals who deliver services.

This would mean practitioners continuously looking at their work and asking ‘how am I incorporating these principles into my work with people who use services?’.