Quality of Life approach

Quality of Life

Our whole approach is underpinned by our commitment to an Ordinary Life. Whatever labels and diagnoses a person has been given, we know from experience that, with the right support, you can live a life where you are a valued and visible member of your community. Since 2002, when the organisation was founded, we have been working in coproduction with disabled people to develop their own Quality of Life standards. These are used to measure how services and supports unlock a life and individual potential.

The Quality of Life standards have been used in a range of ways:

embedded into commissioning processes to inspire and stimulate recovery-focused and person-centred approaches
used in practice development with professionals to challenge assumptions, shape thinking and stimulate cultural change in working practices
used in Quality of Life reviews to measure how services enable ordinary life outcomes for the people they support

Quality of Life Standards

In 2018 the Mental Health People’s Parliament developed their own set of standards based on the recovery model.

Latest

Quality of Life approach
Joining The Dots Training

Community connecting is a simple approach to embedding people who may be socially isolated into their communities. We all have skills, talents and interests that can connect us through mutually beneficial relationships.
Coproduction Masterclass Training

Coproduction is a philosophy, so what it looks like should seldom be the same. It is not about process, it is about people and a belief system that supports improved outcomes for people.
More Than Words Training

Communication is an essential human need and a basic human right. More Than Words training enables you to develop communication skills to support people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Who we are

Changing Our Lives is a rights-based organisation. We work alongside disabled people and people experiencing mental health difficulties, of all ages, as equal partners to find solutions to social injustice and health inequalities.
National Postural Care Strategy

We all need to look after our posture. For some of us it's as simple as sitting up correctly at our computer. But for those of us who struggle to move our own bodies, for example if we have a complex disability, looking after our posture is even more important. If we don’t look after our posture, this can lead to debilitating health complications.
Mental Health People's Parliament

The People’s Parliament is a strategic body led by MPs with recent lived experience of mental health difficulties. Its function is to hold decision makers to account for improvements in services and supports so that people who experience mental health difficulties can have an improved quality of life and be in greater control of their own mental wellbeing. The Parliament is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, just outside of Birmingham.
Where we work
What makes us unique
Safe Places

The Safe Places scheme is based on the belief that everyone has the right to feel confident and safe going out in their local community. Lots of people feel unsafe at times in the local area; this might be because they have experienced crime or because they simply feel unsafe. For disabled people, older people and others who feel vulnerable this often means they don’t go out at all. The Safe Places scheme enables people to feel more confident, access their local areas more and know what to do.
Beth's Story

How Beth broke the mould around post-16 options by designing her own future.
Katy's Story

No one's too disabled, or too affected by mental health difficulties, to lead an ordinary life.
Best practice
Annual Programme

Our specialised team combines extensive experience, highly skilled and tenacious, professionals that are known for an innovative and outcomes based approach to practice and delivery.