Projects
LIP have completed various projects over the years. Take a look below to see some examples!
ZIP Network
The ZIP Network was a monthly group for people with lived experience of substance or alcohol use and mental health challenges. The group aimed to influence services by creating direct dialogue between members and decision-makers in a supportive and welcoming environment.
Meetings provided a space for peer connection, confidence-building, and meaningful involvement. Members were supported with travel costs, refreshments, and opportunities to grow their voice and impact.
ZIP also hosted conferences on dual diagnosis and delivered training to hundreds of individuals across Leeds, raising awareness and promoting more joined-up, compassionate care for people facing multiple challenges.
Homecare Reference Group
This project supported people with experience of using Leeds Community Home Care services to share their views and shape improvements to care delivered in the home.
Working with Leeds City Council, Leeds Involving People recruited members to take part in monthly meetings, offering feedback and ideas directly to those responsible for planning and delivering services. The project focused on building confidence, offering training, and ensuring everyone was supported with expenses and accessibility.
By involving people with real experience, the project helped influence more person-centred, responsive home care across the city.
Perinatal Mental Health Steering Group
This project brought together parents with lived experience of emotional or mental health challenges during pregnancy or the first year after birth. The Perinatal Mental Health Steering Group met monthly to share insights and help improve the way services in Leeds respond to families’ needs.
Working in partnership with the NHS, Leeds City Council, and local support organisations, the group helped shape better emotional and mental health support for mums, dads, and partners. Meetings were relaxed and welcoming, with travel and childcare costs covered to make participation easier.
The group also offered flexible involvement, with opportunities to contribute online for those who couldn’t attend in person.
This project played a key role in giving voice to parents and shaping more compassionate, accessible services for families across Leeds.
Long-term Health Conditions Involvement Group
The Long-term Health Conditions Involvement Group (LTC IG) brought together people living with or caring for someone with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions or Type 2 Diabetes. Meeting informally every two months, members shared their experiences to help improve services and promote independence.
The group worked closely with service commissioners and providers to explore new and effective ways to support people with LTCs. Discussions covered a wide range of topics, including Structured Education Programmes, Health Coaching, Digital Technologies, and Personalised Health Reviews.
As well as shaping service delivery, the group offered members the chance to connect with others in similar situations and make a positive impact through lived experience.
MindWell College (now known as the Recovery College) Planning Group
This project brought together people with lived experience of mental health services and professionals from across Leeds to co-design and develop the MindWell College—an innovative education-based approach to mental health recovery and resilience.
The MindWell College Planning Group met regularly to shape the courses, workshops, and values of the college. The focus was on creating a space where people could learn tools for wellbeing, build confidence and resilience, and explore personal growth beyond recovery.
Members worked collaboratively on focused tasks, sharing ideas by email, phone, and in monthly meetings. Leeds Involving People supported involvement through travel expense reimbursement, refreshments, and confidence-building opportunities.
This project helped ensure that MindWell College was truly shaped by and for the people it serves.
Royal Armouries Accessibility Review
A group of Leeds Involving People (LIP) members came together to review and improve access to the Royal Armouries Museum. Drawing on their own lived experience, the group identified practical changes to make the museum more inclusive, such as introducing braille signage, tactile surfaces, and other accessibility features.
These suggestions were reviewed by both LIP service users and board members, and were positively received by the Royal Armouries team. The project helped ensure that everyone, regardless of access needs, can enjoy the museum’s exhibitions in a welcoming and inclusive environment.
NHS Leadership Academy
In early 2016, Mandrill Media Ltd approached Leeds Involving People to take part in a film project highlighting the importance of user involvement in health and social care. LIP members Sue Harkin and Paul Parmenter shared their personal experiences, speaking openly about why it’s vital for service providers to engage, listen, and act on feedback from the people who use their services.
The resulting video became a key resource in NHS leadership training, helping future leaders understand the power of co-production and meaningful involvement. It was also a great opportunity to raise the profile of LIP’s work—proving that a few pre-filming nerves were well worth it!
🎥 Click here to watch the video.
Your Health, Your Say Conference
In April 2017, Leeds Involving People supported Leeds Adults and Health to deliver the Your Health, Your Say conference—an event designed to engage with ethnically diverse communities in Leeds about their experiences with health and social care services.
LIP helped shape the agenda to ensure it was culturally appropriate and inclusive, supported individuals to share their stories, and coordinated administration and travel to ensure the event was accessible to all.
The conference was a great success, with over 187 attendees, including guest speakers, councillors, and health commissioners, all committed to listening and learning from the voices of Leeds’ diverse communities to help shape more inclusive and responsive services.
University of Leeds Student Placements
In May 2019, Leeds Involving People welcomed four medical students from the University of Leeds for a placement exploring how lived experience shapes health and care services.
During their visit, the students engaged with various parts of our organisation and learned how group membership empowers individuals to share their experiences, highlight what works, and influence service improvements.
Their feedback showed a clear understanding of co-production and the value of service user involvement:
“It is clear they have gained a good understanding of the principles of co-production and service user involvement. Thank you for providing them with that unique insight and the opportunity to communicate with so many service users in such a short time.”
It was a pleasure to support their learning and help embed the importance of lived experience in future healthcare practice.
Leeds City Council Women's Listening Project
From October to December 2019, Leeds Involving People engaged with over 60 women across the city on behalf of Leeds City Council, exploring key issues including finance, employment, education, and language barriers.
The insights gathered through focus groups and conversations were used to help shape local and national policy affecting women and girls. Many of the women we spoke to would not have otherwise been reached through traditional consultation methods.
“The team at Leeds Involving People were extremely helpful and hardworking while supporting the Leeds City Listening project. The information received was extremely useful and helped us understand the barriers faced by women we may not have otherwise been able to engage with.”
This project demonstrated the power of inclusive engagement in uncovering real challenges and ensuring every voice counts in shaping the future.
NHS Providers Presentation
In April 2019, Leeds Involving People was invited by NHS Providers to speak at an event attended by over 60 NHS governors from across Yorkshire. With just two days’ notice, our CEO Jagdeep Passan delivered a presentation showcasing how LIP projects influence service delivery and design through meaningful community engagement.
The presentation highlighted real examples of co-production in action, demonstrating the value of involving people with lived experience in shaping health and care services.
“It was great to have LIP along to our event to hear such great examples of real community engagement—truly inspiring.”
This was a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of our work and inspire others across the region to put people at the heart of decision-making.
Conversation Cafes
In 2021–2022, Leeds Involving People ran a series of Conversation Cafés, funded by the National Lottery Awards for All. These informal, welcoming sessions brought together people from across Leeds to explore key issues affecting their lives and communities.
Each session focused on a different topic, such as health inequalities, access to services, or community safety, and often featured a guest speaker to spark discussion and share insights. The cafés were designed to be accessible and inclusive, with British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters provided at every session to ensure Deaf participants could take part fully.
The Conversation Cafés offered a relaxed space for people to connect, be heard, and contribute to change—highlighting what works, what doesn’t, and how services could be improved from the ground up.
This project strengthened local voices, built community relationships, and helped inform service providers about the real concerns and priorities of Leeds residents.
Community Conversations
As part of a wider project involving over 100 participants, Leeds Involving People hosted a community conversation in partnership with the University of Leeds and the National Institute for Health & Care Research. The session brought together 22 members from diverse backgrounds, including people from minoritised ethnic groups, the Deaf community, neurodivergent individuals, and those with long-term health conditions.
Held in British Sign Language and English, the event offered a welcoming space to explore barriers to taking part in health research and share ideas for making research more inclusive and accessible. Key themes included trust, relevance, accessibility, and the importance of working with communities from the start.
The project was part of a knowledge mobilisation approach, and the insights from the LIP session were featured in a peer-reviewed journal article on improving inclusion in research.
Conversation Cafes - Leeds Sensory Services
In early 2023, Leeds Involving People ran a series of community conversations to gather feedback from people with hearing and sight loss on how sensory services in Leeds could be improved.
Each session was designed to be inclusive and accessible, with BSL interpreters provided and a focus on creating a safe space for people to share their views. Participants discussed the challenges they face and shared practical suggestions to shape better support and accessibility across services.
The feedback gathered directly informed future planning for Leeds Sensory Services, ensuring that the voices of people with lived experience are central to service development.
The Listening Project - Adult Social Care
In 2022, Leeds Involving People worked with Leeds City Council Adult Social Care to deliver The Listening Project—an engagement programme focused on understanding how people from racially minoritised communities in Leeds access information, advice, and support.
Through a series of face-to-face events and surveys, the project gathered feedback from individuals and community organisations on key topics such as awareness of adult social care, barriers to access, trust in services, and preferred sources of support.
The findings highlighted a need for more culturally appropriate communication, greater visibility of services, and improved pathways to help. Insights from the project are informing efforts to ensure fairer, more inclusive access to adult social care across the city.
Dying Matters - End of Life Information for the Deaf Community
Leeds Involving People received a Dying Matters Community Grant to host an accessible information session for Deaf people in Leeds, focused on end-of-life planning and bereavement support.
Delivered in British Sign Language (BSL), the session covered practical topics such as making a will, power of attorney, organ donation, and arranging a funeral. It also included guidance on how to talk to family and friends about end-of-life wishes, and highlighted local funeral planning services such as Goodings and Full Circle Funerals.
The event was led by a Deaf facilitator and designed to create a safe, familiar space for open discussion. Feedback from participants highlighted the importance of having sensitive topics explained in their first language, in a setting that recognised their communication needs.
Unpaid Carers Group
Leeds Involving People partnered with the Networked Data Lab to create a forum for unpaid adult carers in Leeds to share their experiences and influence research. The project aimed to ensure that carers’ voices helped shape how data is used to improve health and social care services, especially in reducing health inequalities.
We brought together a diverse Task and Finish group of unpaid carers, supported by professionals from Adult Social Care and Carers Leeds. The group met every six weeks from April to December 2022, both online and in person, to discuss key themes from an Insight Report and highlight challenges and solutions faced by carers.
Members were supported with training, expenses, and gift vouchers to recognise their time and contribution. The quality and impact of the group’s work led to the project being extended for a further three months. Their input directly influenced a final research report and helped raise awareness of unpaid carers’ needs at both local and national levels.
St Gemma's Community Engagement
Leeds Involving People partnered with St Gemma’s Hospice to carry out engagement with people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds living in LS7 and LS8, focusing on experiences and expectations around end-of-life care.
The project aimed to understand cultural and religious needs, communication barriers, and how services could be improved. Over the course of the project, we gathered feedback from 804 individuals through surveys and focus groups in community settings, including mosques, churches, schools, and support centres.
The findings offered valuable insight into how accessible, appropriate and culturally competent end-of-life care can be shaped, and were used by St Gemma’s to inform future services and wider system change. The project was funded by the Leeds North CCG Health Priorities Fund.