Participation and Involvement: shape how we work

What is Participation and Involvement?

From World Parkinson’s Day, to research, to Digital Inclusion, there are a variety of flexible opportunities to use your skills and experience to help inform our work. At Parkinson’s UK, we refer to these types of opportunities as Participation and Involvement.

Participation and Involvement opportunities range from one-off activities such as focus groups and product testing, through to longer-term roles like project groups and panels. Whether you can spare a few hours or a few months, we want to make sure you can have your say.

A shared spirit for Participation and Involvement

In 2021, a group of 30 people who had been involved in participation and involvement activities came together to discuss how Parkinson’s UK could be a more participatory organisation.

They defined a shared spirit that they all felt was needed to ensure that working together was enjoyable, meaningful, inclusive and purposeful. This shared spirit reminds us that our experience of working with us is just as important as the things we achieve together.

• We all feel able to make a contribution, confident that others believe in us and everything we have to offer.

• We are all ears, and everyone feels truly heard.
• We feel shared ownership of the actions we take together, towards common goals. 
• We feel safe in the knowledge that the people around the table with us will find the way together, even if the path doesn't always go in a straight line. 
• Our hard work feels more meaningful and more joyful, because we're doing it together.