Get involved & have your say

Understanding Us launched in September 2008 and was developed by Advocacy Alliance in partnership with the three commissioning areas of Supporting People, Domestic Abuse and Substance Misuse.  Advocacy Alliance have delivered specialist advocacy and inclusion services for people with a learning disability since 1993 so the charity is now able to offer independent advocacy and inclusion services for a wider range of people.

Understanding Us helps people who use support services to have a voice in the decisions that affect them.  We work with people to promote their views in the planning, delivery and evaluation of services they receive in order to ensure that services are meeting people’s needs.  Our members are experts by their own experiences and their views are vital if services are to improve.  We work across the areas of supported housing, social exclusion, domestic abuse and substance misuse. 

If you use a support service you can become a member of Understanding Us.  As a member you will become part of an independent Expert Reference Group who together have a strong voice.  There are many ways to get involved.  Our Expert Reference Groups meet monthly in Bedford and Central Bedfordshire.  We also facilitate groups in a variety of service settings if you would prefer to meet with people who use the same service as you.  You can also take part as an individual if you would prefer not to attend group meetings. 

We work with local authorities at a strategic planning level and with various steering groups, committees and partnership boards; we provide the support to help you make your views known.  Recent developments include recruiting representatives from our groups to attend strategic and commissioning meetings to raise the views of our members.  We are also developing a peer reviewing system to run alongside Supporting People’s quality monitoring of services where members of the groups will meet people using the services to gain an understanding of how well the services are meeting people’s needs.  We have recently involved a panel of women who have experienced domestic abuse in interviewing companies who have applied to run refuges in the area.