Kate Chivers, director of engagement at Birth Companions, discusses why getting lived experience engagement right is a reputational issue for charities.
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As lived experience engagement becomes increasingly widespread across the voluntary sector, we want to support people in raising their voices for positive change. But we also want to raise expectations around how this work can be done safely and effectively.

At Birth Companions, our engagement model is at the heart of everything we do, shaped by our commitment to working in a trauma-informed and woman-centred way. Women in our services told us they wanted to stay connected to our work and help improve systems for others. In response, eight years ago we established our Lived Experience Team - a group of passionate, driven women who influence and co-design frontline services and work to drive real change in the systems, policies and practices that affect the lives of women across the country.

Birth Companions was working in a trauma-informed way long before it became a buzzword. In practice, this means that everything we do, not only in our support services but also in our engagement work, is rooted in an understanding of trauma and its impact. Over our 30-year history, we have become specialists in supporting women to make their voices heard, while ensuring they feel safe, supported, valued and respected during what can be challenging work.

That’s why we have now developed new training on trauma-informed engagement; to help others learn from and apply our model to their own areas of work.

A trauma-informed approach in practice

For me, the trauma-informed approach is about being empathic and non- judgemental.

When I was given the job of developing our approach to engaging with lived experience at Birth Companions 10 years ago, it made sense to apply the same principles. We took the core values of a trauma-informed approach - safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural considerations - and we applied them to engagement work. In practice this means supporting women to make informed choices about how and when they take part in projects; payment for their time and expertise; emotional support before and after engagement sessions; and skilled facilitation.

Working in this way means we can create a safe, supportive space for women to do work that is important to them. Women in the Lived Experience Team feel empowered, those they work with feel confident in engaging with their expertise, and take real value from the process, meaning real change can happen.

Extractive engagement

Despite the fact that there is a lot of good practice out there, extractive engagement can still happen. It rarely starts with bad intentions though - it often happens when organisations are operating under pressure due to tight deadlines, funding demands, consultation targets or urgency in demonstrating participation. When this happens, people can be asked to share difficult experiences with little influence, feedback or support. Good intentions are not enough, and they can still result in harm. Thankfully careful planning, training, appropriate resources and strong systems can protect against this.

The importance of safeguarding

People being asked to revisit personal, often challenging experiences need a safe space in which to prepare and to debrief. Staff holding these spaces need reflective practice to help support their own wellbeing, and safeguarding processes must be in place to keep everyone safe. If people are overstretched or unsupported, the quality and safety of engagement suffers for all.

A reputational issue

Reputation is built not only on what charities say but also on what they do. Funders and regulators, but also supporters and the communities charities exist to support, expect participation to be genuine and ethical.

It takes time and resource to deliver engagement with care and compassion. Getting it wrong risks causing harm. When others place their trust in you, it is your responsibility to be present in the moment and do your very best for them. Done well, lived experience engagement strengthens legitimacy, accountability and impact and getting it right is something we’re immensely proud of at Birth Companions. Read about Birth Companions’ trauma informed engagement training or contact kate@birthcompanions.org.uk.

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