Ed is one of our paid Life of Opportunity Reviewers and, as he explains, his role is crucial: “We carry out regular reviews for the Trust. We visit other communities to assess how well the people living there are able to lead the Life of Opportunity. We listen to people, sometimes their families and we talk to staff and managers.”

Making a difference within their communities is important to our Reviewers, like Nicki, who is also a paid member of the Life of Opportunity Reviewer team: “I applied to be a reviewer to help the people and the other communities to speak up and to implement change for the better. I love to know that I can make a difference in people's lives by being a Reviewer.

“Because we have our own personal experience and understanding we can have conversations with other people who live in the communities on a more equal basis than members of staff,” she said. “We can imagine ourselves in their situations and have a different point of view to what a member of staff can have.”

Simon is another one of our reviewers and is proud to have a paid role with the Trust: “The reason I wanted to be a Life of Opportunity reviewer is because I enjoy speaking to other people from different communities as well. It’s a really enjoyable job, but I’m also employed by the Trust to do it, so I get money to do the reviews. It’s to make Camphill Village Trust better and they do listen.”

Philip Gibson, Co-production Project Lead, said: “We see co-production not as an activity in isolation, but as a culture for our communities. All new employees take part in a workshop co-delivered with people we support, introducing them to the Life of Opportunity, which helps to create that community energy and spirit that is driven by the lived experience of all of our people.”

The Kindness Crew began with an idea raised by members of our Delrow Community, who wanted to give back to the wider community. Today, the ‘crew’ gives their time and energy to volunteer in the local area.

Christelle Newbury-Olive, Co-production Lead and Kindness Crew member said: “Our people use their skills to help others. Whether it’s serving tea and cake or setting up a laptop to play YouTube videos while they dance with elderly people at Age UK, these are skills they’re using to help the community.”

Deepak, a member of our Delrow Community, shared that he enjoys “litter picking and gardening” when he volunteers at a local school.

Christelle added, “The people they are helping are so grateful for their time and the energy they bring, and our people come back home afterwards saying how good it feels to help the local community and how they left their anxiety at the door. It also gives them something to put on their CV, and some of them even stay on to volunteer beyond their time with the Kindness Crew.”

Other groups, like the Involve Me group, work across our communities, taking part in weekly video meetings to discuss wider topics affecting the people we support, like transport options, how to stay safe online or out in public, and health inequalities when trying to access their GP.

Together, the Involve Me group have spearheaded many important projects which benefit everyone within our communities, including developing training to help staff create easy-read documents, to ensure information is accessible for everyone at Camphill Village Trust. They have even produced their own kitemark to approve documents according to their specific standards, before these resources are shared more widely. Their most recent project saw the creation of six Keeping Safe films to help other people with learning disabilities and support needs take care in the community.