Co‑production, engagement and self‑assessment tools
Turning co‑production, neuro‑inclusion and trauma‑informed practice into simple, practical tools that teams can actually use.
At Co Production & Me, this programme brings together meaningful engagement, co‑production design and ready‑to‑use self‑assessment tools so that organisations don’t just “do involvement” but genuinely work with people to shape services.
It’s particularly useful for:
- NHS boards, committees, transformation programmes and project workstreams
- Local Authorities and VCSE partners running co‑produced reviews or pathway redesigns
- Primary care, dental and community teams wanting to test how welcoming and accessible they are
The focus is on making co‑production feel achievable, not theoretical, and giving you practical resources you can pick up and start using.
What this programme is
“Co‑production, engagement and self‑assessment tools” is a collection of methods and resources that help organisations:
- Design and run co‑produced sessions that feel safe, inclusive and purposeful
- Use self‑assessment tools to review how neuro‑inclusive and trauma‑aware a service, team or environment is
- Turn feedback into clear, realistic next steps that are easy to action
Instead of generic “listening events”, this work is tailored to your context, so that:
- People are not asked to repeatedly “share their story”; they’re involved meaningfully
- Staff don’t feel burdened by extra paperwork; they get tools that fit into existing workflows
- Leadership can see how co‑production and inclusion are being embedded across the system
How it works
This programme is delivered through three overlapping strands you can use separately or together.
1. Co‑production and engagement sessions
I design and facilitate co‑production and engagement activities that are:
- Trauma‑informed and neuroinclusive, so participation feels safe and accessible
- Focused on specific questions or decisions (e.g. “How do we redesign this pathway?”, “How do we review this ward’s culture?”)
- Structured so that insights are captured and turned into actions, not just “nice feedback”
Typical formats include:
- One‑off or recurring sessions for boards, committees, project groups or service‑level discussions
- Digital, in‑person or blended events depending on your context
- Material that can be reused or adapted for future engagements
You can use these sessions to:
- Co‑design service reviews, pathway redesigns or transformation plans
- Explore how inclusive and welcoming your service feels to neurodivergent and trauma‑affected people
- Gather insight from staff, patients, carers and community partners in one place
2. Self‑assessment and audit tools
I have created and co‑produced self‑assessment tools that turn inclusion into practical, measurable questions.
These are especially helpful when:
- You want a quick way to check how neuro‑inclusive or trauma‑aware your service is
- You need evidence for CQC, Quality Improvement or strategy documents
- You want something simple your team can use routinely, not just a one‑off consultant visit
Examples include:
- Neuro‑Inclusive Self‑Assessments for primary care and dental services
- Tools that guide practices through environment, communication, documentation and staff experience
- Automatic scoring and phased actions so you can see where you are now and what to adjust next
- Service‑specific self‑assessments (e.g. inpatient ward, community team, social care)
- Customisable question sets that you can adapt to your own priorities and language
- Options for staff and patient/carer versions so you can compare perspectives
All tools are:
- Co‑produced with lived experience
- Trauma‑informed in tone and structure
- Sized to be manageable for small teams (e.g. 1–2 hours to complete, depending on context)
3. Booklets, resources and “how‑to” guides
Alongside sessions and tools, I produce clear, accessible resources that help teams:
- Understand co‑production and personalised care in everyday language
- Use the self‑assessment tools in a structured way
- Embed inclusion and trauma‑informed practice into regular review and planning
These include:
- Informational booklets and “how‑to” guides for staff and people with lived experience
- Plain‑language summaries of complex guidance (e.g. co‑production frameworks, NAS‑style inclusion principles)
- Practitioner‑focused notes that explain how to run a co‑production session or interpret a self‑assessment result
All resources are:
- Written in an accessible, neuro‑inclusive style
- Designed to be printed or shared digitally
- Built so different teams can reuse them repeatedly
Typical focus areas
Depending on your context, this programme can focus on:
Engagement for boards and committees
- Co‑designing how to involve people in strategy, service reviews or transformation
- Making sure voices that are often excluded (neurodivergent people, people with long‑term mental health needs, carers, community partners) are genuinely heard
Neuro‑inclusive and trauma‑informed design
- Using self‑assessment tools to review how welcoming and safe your environment, communication and documentation are
- Identifying simple adjustments that staff can make immediately
Pathway and service reviews
- Running co‑production sessions alongside your Service, pathway and effectiveness reviews
- Combining survey‑style tools with face‑to‑face work so you get both breadth and depth
Training and embedding practice
- Short “how‑to” workshops or sessions that show staff how to use the tools and run co‑production safely
- Light follow‑up resources so teams can keep using the approach without ongoing consultancy
What organisations can expect
When you use this programme, you can expect:
- Co‑production that feels purposeful, not tokenistic
- Tools that are practical and easy to use, not just academic exercises
- A co‑designed approach so that both staff and people with lived experience feel ownership of the outputs
- Clear next steps from every session or tool, so you can demonstrate progress on inclusion, CQC expectations and system‑level priorities
- Reusable materials and frameworks that your organisation can continue to use after the initial work
Example of this kind of work
This approach has been used in:
- A primary care network wanting to understand how welcoming and accessible its consultations were for neurodivergent patients
- We used a Neuro‑Inclusive Self‑Assessment toolkit, co‑designed with autistic and neurodivergent service‑users, to review space, communication, waiting times and documentation
- The practice identified simple, low‑cost adjustments and gained a credible way to evidence improvements for internal QI and CQC
- A community mental health team running a co‑production programme to redesign a crisis pathway
- We co‑designed and facilitated a series of engagement sessions with service‑users, carers, staff and VCSE partners
- We then used a tailored self‑assessment tool to track how the new pathway affected experience, safety and inclusion over time
- A hospital wanting to improve its approach to co‑production around Culture of Care
- We created a short booklet and facilitation guide explaining how staff could run small, trauma‑informed co‑production conversations on their wards
- This helped teams move from “waiting for an external project” to doing regular, low‑effort involvement that linked into wider QI work
How to get started
If you would like to explore how co‑production, engagement and self‑assessment tools could support your service, team or system‑level work, I’d welcome a conversation.