From listening to hearing: celebrating two years of the Voice Exchange
20th June 2023
Following the closure of the Gordon Hospital due to COVID-19, the Voice Exchange began in 2020. It was commissioned by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) as a project to listen, over a period of one year, to people’s lived experiences of inpatient mental health services in Westminster, and Kensington & Chelsea.
The Voice Exchange has been a unique project from the very beginning. So often, we hope to listen to people’s lived experiences with the best of intentions, yet their voices end up trapped within the pages of a report and sitting on a shelf. Listen to Act was determined that this project would not share the same fate – we wanted to not only listen to voices, but ensure that people heard them.
How do you do this? It’s not easy. It takes time, consistency, trust and passion. From the start, CNWL committed to providing these things. CNWL recognised, as an organisation, that listening takes time and resources and it cannot simply ‘stop’ once we have the answers we want. It is an ongoing process and it requires a cultural shift in how we undertake listening exercises.
The Voice Exchange did just that. Each member of the project group was recruited for their recent lived experience of mental health conditions and services. The group met for several months before doing any ‘work’ or addressing any questions – the work was getting to know one another and building trust.
This enabled the group to have open and honest discussions about their experiences and services once we did begin ‘working’. It ensured people could disagree with one another in a safe way. It built solid foundations for a group that, nearly three years on, still meets each week for a virtual coffee catch up because they feel like family.
As a group, we had one question to answer during the Voice Exchange project – what do great inpatient mental health services look like? This is a huge question and encompasses all areas of service delivery, despite focusing in on inpatient care. It’s an aspirational question, a question that invites us to think big, think creatively. A question that gives us permission not to have all the answers.
In May 2022, we published the Voice Exchange report. Members of the Voice Exchange group did not agree on all points – that’s the beauty of listening to people, everyone has their own individual experiences, hopes and views – but the report did include key themes and recommendations from the group as whole.
So, in 2022 we had our report on the shelf. It was packed full of insights and lived experiences from not only members of the Voice Exchange but the wider communities of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea. It was (and still is) a fantastic read for anyone interested in mental health. But the Voice Exchange did not stop there.
Once again, CNWL chose to keep listening. Listen to Act carried out reflective sessions for staff at all levels of the organisation, to empower staff to respond emotionally to the findings of the report. It can be difficult to hear about problems, areas for improvement, ways to get better. Especially when our NHS Trusts are under so much pressure and are so restricted by systems and budgets. Yet the staff at CNWL did just this – they stopped, they breathed in the Voice Exchange report – and they were inspired to continue listening. Not only that – they passionately shared the Voice Exchange report as well – and we hosted three Summits to spread the word about the project.
Now, CNWL is working with the Voice Exchange members to take the recommendations and actions forward. It’s been three years since we began this project and now, more than ever, it’s vital we keep listening to people’s lived experiences of mental health. When we listen consistently and continually, we not only find ways of making things better for everyone, we truly hear what matters to people most. In this case, it was compassion and humanity. It was accountability and continuity. And above all, it was engagement. So we can keep listening, hearing and acting. So we can, quite simply, keep exchanging voices.
Find out more
If you would like more information about the Voice Exchange, please contact Sharon Tomlin at sharon@routeschange.com