Over the last few years, “Lived Experience” has gone from being a new term to one that is widely accepted, particularly for those working in customer vulnerability and inclusion. The term “Lived Experience” now sits alongside other types of research – but there is one clear difference.

Lived Experience is always about people – not the method. It’s about working with people with experience and expertise of diverse needs, complex lives, and different circumstances to ensure that our journeys, products, services and communications work for more people.

People are at the heart of what we do – and the Purpose and Process of our work sit around the people who are sharing their expertise.

“I struggle with the motivation to initiate tasks relating to essentials services because of anxiety and my ME/CFS & fibromyalgia diagnoses. When I am anxious the latter two diagnoses flare up. I often avoid it to avoid the symptoms.

I work, though often have time off, so I feel I don’t have energy to do anything other than rest when not working. I had to reduce working hours so paying bills is harder”.

Community member, 29, Female

I’m grateful that so many people with diverse needs and experiences have agreed to take part in our Community, sharing their insights and expertise, knowing that their voices can drive change for people who are often underserved or excluded.

On average, people in our Community have at least 4 different characteristics of vulnerability, reflecting the complexity of people’s lives and needs. This is worsening as the latest Cost of Living crisis continues to tighten, impacting millions of people who were already in financially precarious positions.

Our youngest member is 20, and our oldest 78, both with long term health conditions that impact their day to day lives. Many have experienced changing life circumstances, including becoming a carer, job loss, or a change in health. For those working in utilities, 10% have medical equipment at home that is reliant on access to electricity or water.

The make-up of our Community is always growing and evolving – and we can tailor this further for specific projects or focus areas.

“Everything is spread across different providers, apps, passwords, renewal dates and payment systems. Even when I’m trying to stay organised, it can become mentally draining to keep track of what is due, whether prices have changed, and whether I’m still on the best deal, especially with the cost of living being so high”.

Community member, 43, Male

We never take for granted that people are sharing information about their personal lives and circumstances with us, in order to drive improvements to essential services. Listening to these stories – without action – is not enough.

We always work with organisations to be clear on the Purpose of the work they’re doing;

The Purpose drives the Process, our methods for how we engage with people with lived experience that ensures everyone can contribute meaningfully.

We shared more on this in our recent webinar about Inclusive Research in Practice – click here to get in touch if you’d like the takeaway summary.

It’s about Purpose, People and Process – in order to make Progress

It’s vital to include people with diverse needs, real lives and complex circumstances in the design and deliver of essential services, and do this in a way that ensures they can contribute meaningfully, safely and be part of positive change.

If you’re looking at how to bring lived experience of vulnerability into your organisation, we’d love to help, whether you’re shaping the problems to solve or ready to start work straight away, contact us at lauren@inclusiveoutcomes.co.uk