Share your experience
Our family engagement team ensures the services we offer at Demelza have the maximum impact by engaging with and supporting the families who use them.
Meet the team
As a team, our aim is to listen to families and act on their views, ideas and needs.
We do this by engaging with children, young people and families to proactively involve them in the design of our services. As we do this, we make sure to check our understanding and explore whether these views are shared by others or are unique.
- Nicola Reynolds, Engagement Coordinator
- Ronnie Cottrell, Engagement Lead
- Clare Large, Children and Young People's Engagement Officer
Get involved
Join one of our feedback groups for young people or parent carers – make your views heard, connect, and have fun.
Families Voice is Demelza’s parent carer group. Sharing and listening to lived experiences helps to ensure that Demelza’s services meet the needs of all families. The Families Voice group links parents and carers to the decision makers of Demelza, sharing views, asking questions and ensuring feedback from families is understood and responded to.
We hold quarterly family catch ups with a member of Demelza's senior leadership team. If you would be interested in arranging more regular catch ups please get in touch and we will help you advertise these to other families in your area.
Sign up here.
The Young Voices group aims to give children and young people (aged 9-25) who use Demelza’s services a chance to share their views, meet others and have fun! The group meets for Super Saturday sessions throughout the year.
Sign up here.
We're listening
Let us know how you felt about a particular service or activity that you accessed.
When things go wrong, we want to learn and make our services better for everyone.
Voices heard, changes made
We want you to know that we hear you and that changes are being made.
Our most recent changes include:
- Introducing an information and activity day for families.
- Improving our events.
- Creating opportunities for children and young people to engage.
- Providing moments for peer to peer support.
- Implementing Families Voice (parent carer forum) ideas and feedback.
Contact our senior leadership team
If you would prefer to get in touch with our senior leadership team you can contact them directly via the email addresses below.
Lavinia (Vin) Jarrett, Chief Executive Officer
Katie Stevens, Director of Clinical Services
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What do the engagement team do?
Empowering and involving families
Families Voice is Demelza’s parent carer group. Their goal is to share their experiences to help enhance Demelza’s services. They organise informal cafes, meetings and socials for parents / carers to connect and share experiences. There is also a Young Voices group which aims to give children and young people a chance to share their views, meet others and have fun.
Listen
We are always looking for ways to collaborate with families to hear your perspectives and experiences. We do this through in-person consultations, attending Demelza events and conducting surveys. Each year, we hold Extraordinary Conversations events, where families, Demelza colleagues, external service providers and others discuss specific topics.
What will happen after I submit by feedback or complaint?
This information is collated by the family engagement team and added to a tracker. The family engagement team may contact you to find out more so that they can make sure that the next steps decided are best for everyone involved.
How can I get involved?
To contact us please email family.engagement@demelza.org.uk or call 01795 845293. You can also pick up a feedback card on-site.
What are Extraordinary Conversations events?
They are an opportunity to discuss and explore a specific topic. All participants are equal collaborators within the conversations, bringing their perspectives, experiences and different points of view. The objective is understanding each other, understanding individual needs and supporting future service development where appropriate.
Children, young people, parents, carers, staff, volunteers, trustees, external service providers, commissioners, partnership organisations, local community groups and more are invited to come along.
On the day, all you need to bring is your ideas, perspectives, experiences and suggestions on the topic up for discussion. On arrival you will be allocated a place at one of the tables. Each table will have a range of stakeholders so that a variety of perspectives and experiences are shared.
Visit our family area
Whether your family is already supported by us, or you're new to Demelza, this is the place for updates, information and the news that matters to you.