Co-production at Brandon
Brandon’s mission to enable people to live the lives they choose, includes prioritising collaborating with autistic people and people with learning disabilities in all our decision making.
Co-production recognises the importance of lived experience, fostering equal partnerships, and collaborative decision-making.
We ensure people supported by Brandon have opportunities to influence and make decisions about Brandon’s activities and to work closely with stakeholders externally, to effect positive change for all autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
At Brandon, this includes a team of people we support working in paid roles as Brandon’s Adventurers. The Adventurers represent the people we support and are consulted on all our key decisions about the way we work now and how we will work in the future.
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The Adventurers
The Adventurers team live across the Brandon areas and travel to meet regularly in person as well as online. Their work at Brandon so far, has included:
- Contributing to the development of our five-year Plan B strategy
- Consulting on and co-producing Brandon’s policy as well as accompanying easy read documentation
- Working as Quality Checkers
- Taking part in the judging of our annual staff awards
- Supporting the development of our Partnerships and Fundraising strategy
- Providing consulting services for all our central support teams, to make sure Brandon’s ongoing work, such as management training programmes, induction for staff, and new IT systems, are inclusive and accessible to all
- Providing advice on current projects such as the Brandon Survey and fundraising campaigns
- Developing and delivering Mental Capacity Act Training for Brandon staff (and external partners)
- Consulting on our Listening Lounge project (grief cafe)
Based on The Adventurers amazing ethos of co-production – not just within Brandon but with external organisations – they were regional winners at The Great British Care Awards, in the co-production category.
Consultation services
The Adventurers and our involvement experts lead on all our co-production and consultation work with stakeholders and partners beyond Brandon. Their work has included:
- Training University of the West of England (UWE) students on inclusion in prescribing, as well as creating accessible information for patients with a learning disability around medication and health
- Creating an accessible Health Action Plan
- Supporting Southmead Hospital’s accessibility and inclusion procedures through site visits and panel events
- Working with Bristol University Research Team, creating accessible information for people with a learning disability and/or autism to take part in medical trials/research
- Working with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB), to produce a video promoting the importance of annual health checks
- Working with Bristol & Weston Hospitals charity and Bristol Dental Hospital Special Care Department, to produce a video explaining what is involved when you have a tooth taken out
- Supporting Health Innovation West of England to make a new e-learning programme on healthy eating for the NHS
You can read more about our co-production work in the Brandon news section.
What's coming up?
During 2025 and into 2026, Brandon’s involvement team will be working with people we support on a number of projects.
The Adventurers’ projects include working with University of the West of England (UWE), to deliver inclusive consultations to over 850 independent prescribers, in 2025 alone. Through our relationship with the university, we’ll then be starting a new project to develop an undergraduate course.
We are also working on research projects, including research into new technologies with the National Care Forum, and partnering with Cordis Bright to become researchers.
Throughout 2025, we will develop and extend our Listening Lounge grief cafe project to offer support to people in more locations.
The Adventurers also work as Brandon’s Quality Checkers. They visit people we support in their homes, audit the standard of the houses, talk to individuals about the support they receive from Brandon, and then write their own reports.
How can the Adventurers help you?
If you or your organisation would like support to co-produce any work or activity that needs to be accessible and inclusive to all, please contact our involvement team via email: involve.me@brandontrust.org
Employment opportunities
As well as our co-production opportunities, Brandon also offers people with learning disabilities and autism opportunities to gain work skills, vocational training, and paid employment through our social enterprise businesses.
Get in touch
Contact
Contact Brandon’s operational teams, find out more about the support we offer or explore our job vacancies.
Meet The Adventurers
Our Adventurers are part of Brandon’s leadership team – find out who they are and what matters to them.