Highlights

Collaborated with a co-design group and a steering group, including individuals with lived experience of organising support.

Took a relational, human-centered approach to designing the service.

Tested the self-directed support service with 12 participants.

The website is designed to be WCAG compliant and screen-reader accessible. 

Challenge

The Care Act of 2014 empowered disabled people to organise their own support, offering an alternative to institutional care and fostering community inclusion. Self-directed support allows individuals to access ‘direct payments’ from their local council, which can be used for home adaptations, hiring personal assistants, or funding activities and items that improve their quality of life.

Key Insights

Many people struggle to access direct payments, often leaving control of the funds with the council, limiting their autonomy.

People feel isolated at the beginning of their self-directed support journey.

There is a lack of inspiration and clarity on how to organise care independently.

I joined the project after discovery research to co-design prototypes that support individuals in taking control of their self-directed care journey.

This project was a collaboration between; Care City, InControl and In Charge. All organisations with health and social care experience. The project was funded by The Health Foundation. 

Solution

‘Thrive’ is a platform that provides high-quality and clear guidance on how to get the most out of direct payments, and empowers people and their families to get the best out of self-directed support. 

The key features of the service are;

Inspiration

Inspirational stories showcasing how others successfully navigate self-directed support.

Mutual support

A buddy system to connect users with peers for mutual support.

Guidance

Step-by-step guidance on navigating council policies around self-directed care, empowering users to make informed decisions and live life to the fullest.

Community

An online community where people can get mutual support and information.

“Having step-by-step guides for everything would really help. It takes away the anxiety of not knowing what to do next.” Codesign Participant.

This shows the step-by-step guidance on the &Thrive site. It is designed to take really difficult to understand guidance, and make it clear and accessible. 

&Thrive includes templates on things that people felt they would need. For instance; preparing for an assessment with a council can be a real barrier for people accessing the funds that they are entitled to. 

“Reading about what others who have gone through similar things could be really uplifting. It’s nice to know you’re not alone.” Codesign Participant

People’s lived experience is at the heart of &Thrive. This shows the stories from people to gain inspiration. When people first seek self-directed support they can feel alone and frustrated with the system. Being able to access inspiring stories will allow people to understand what is possible. 

Codesigned brand 

As part of this project, I created a simple brand for &Thrive, which was codesigned with participants. The name was chosen by the codesign and the steering group, as were the brand colours. The principles behind the &Thrive brand: simple, accessible, trustworthy, were developed with the codesign group. 

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