Post-Visit resources

Here are resources to enrich your experience of the Visit and for members who weren’t able to attend:

• A pack of additional resources to help explore the topic, which includes copies of the questions and answers from the Visit. (The pack is also available to download as a plain text file.)
• A recording of the Visit – go to the bottom of the page. (Please note that, unfortunately, we had to cut some sections of the recording that used music protected by copyright, so it couldn’t be shared on our website.)

About the Visit

Health and social care services can be difficult for people to navigate. They can be even more confusing and overwhelming for people with learning disabilities and for autistic people.

“As a health and social care professional working on Believe In Us, I feel I have changed not just professionally but also personally. In the 30 years that I have worked in services, I don’t remember when I last felt so hopeful and passionate about the possibilities for change.”

Believe In Us is a project where people with learning disabilities and autistic people collaborate with health professionals and designers in a truly equal and inclusive way. “We share knowledge, make decisions together and develop new creative approaches to redesigning services. Led by the value of listening to and believing in ourselves and each other, we aim to improve wellbeing for everyone.”

Believe In Us is one of the Common Ambition projects funded by the Health Foundation, aiming to build sustainable change across health care through collaboration between those who use services and those who deliver them.

Why Believe In Us?

Believe In Us is a collaboration led by Heart n Soul with Oxleas NHS, Royal Borough of Greenwich, Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, UAL Creative Computing Institute and the Tizard Centre, University of Kent.

This new project is building on Heart n Soul’s experience as an award-winning creative community and arts charity. “We believe in the power and talents of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. We work together to make great art with imagination, love and trust. At Heart n Soul everyone is valued, and leadership is shared. We can be ourselves, make change happen and have fun! Our vision is of a more open, creative and equal world.”

What people experienced on the Visit:

• Creative approaches and experiences that encourage possibilities for innovation and freedom to make change.
• New ways to be together and build trusting relationships and give space for one another.
• New ways to communicate more clearly and more effectively, so that everyone understands what you are trying to say.
• Ways to let go of power and appreciate the value of interdependence.
• The journey of Believe In Us – the words, the ideas and the lessons we’ve put into practice.
• The change that is possible when people are released from their institutionalised ways.

Watch the recording