Policy & Practice | Summer 2024

aphsa insights By Paige Clay, Morgan McKinney, Julia Mueller, Adrian Geraldo Saldaña, and Zahava “Zee” Zaidoff

Lessons Learned: Engaging People with Lived Experience

T he American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) believes the expertise and insight of people with lived experience in human services systems can and should drive system transformation and modernization. To that end, we conducted a Lived Experience National Scan (LENS) in January 2024. LENS collected information from human services leaders who identified successful and emerging practices that engage people with lived experience, as well as people with lived experience who had been engaged by their agencies. Specifically, we asked how they tapped into people’s lived experi ence with human services systems, and how that lived experience was leveraged to shape organizational decision-making and strategy development. The survey and interview data col lected represented 100 initiatives from 54 agencies located across 30 U.S. states. Based on these findings, we have identified six areas of best practice for engaging people with lived experience in the effort to make human services systems more people centered, user-friendly, and equitable. Purpose and Goals Develop meaningful and impactful roles for people with lived experience to occupy in your agency’s moderniza tion and strategy development. n People with lived experience can serve in many roles and project types. Their expertise can be tapped in the areas of educating

policymakers, planning, supporting service participants, consulting and advising, reimagining programs and services, material redesign, and training delivery and technical assistance.

Compensation Pay your initiative participants as you would pay other consultants. n Provide participants with options to choose how to be compensated. If your agency has administra tive barriers to compensating participants, partner with a com munity-based organization that can administer timely compensation with minimal administrative burden on the participants.

Recruitment and Representation

Use multiple channels to recruit people with lived experience that represent the diversity of your communities served. n Initiative participants are excellent recruiters of other people with lived experience. n Tap into other local and regional councils of people lived experience, especially when seeking representa tion from across the state.

Accessibility and Resources to Support Participation

Make thoughtful accommodations to maximize access and provide resources

Illustration by Chris Campbell

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Policy & Practice Summer 2024