Together Strategy 2025-2028
Our Together approach shapes how we work and the choices we make.
Co-production, involvement and engagement is at the heart of all we do.
Introduction
We are delighted to share the revised Together Strategy for DPT. It sets out our commitment to involving people with lived experience of mental health challenges, learning disabilities, and neurodiversity in shaping, improving, and delivering our services. It provides a clear direction for how involvement and co-production will grow across our organisation over the next three years.
At the heart of the Together approach is a shared belief in the power of collaboration. We aim to empower people who use our services, their families, carers, and staff to drive meaningful change. By listening and learning from those with lived and professional experience, we gain valuable insights that help us address health inequalities, promote inclusion and diversity, and improve the quality of care.
This new strategy is a strong example of what we can achieve when we work together. It has been co-produced with experts by experience, carers, staff, and community partners, ensuring that it truly reflects our shared vision: 'Together in everything we do'. Our original Together Strategy has made a lot of progress in achieving this vision:
- We have developed the Together Experts by Experience Network, which now includes 145 members
- Our Together Team provides dedicated support to help co-ordinate involvement
- We have expanded our offer to experts by experience to include induction, training, reflective practice sessions, an annual celebration event, Together Awards, and pathways to other opportunities such as volunteering, employment and further training
- A clear reimbursement policy is in place, with guidance and support available to help people access it
- Some of our services have created clear pathways to support involvement and offer chances to influence how services are designed and delivered
- We involve people with lived experience and carers in many areas of our organisation - from oversight committees and recruitment panels to working groups, quality improvement projects, staff induction and training.
- Our peer support workforce has grown, with 50 peer support workers (PSWs) now in place, supported by the Peer Support Leadership Team.
- Many of our teams have signed up to the Triangle of Care, which helps strengthen engagement and involvement with carers.
By building on the foundations of the original Together Strategy, we are renewing our commitment to improving services in partnership with the people who use them, ensuring care is better tailored to individual needs.
Our goal is to strengthen collaboration and create more meaningful opportunities for involvement. A key focus is expanding co-production, which we know delivers deeper and more lasting benefits than other forms of involvement. We will achieve this by fostering strong, equal, and reciprocal relationships between people with lived experience, carers and our staff.
In addition, we will work closely with partner organisations and local communities, drawing on their collective knowledge, skills, and lived insights. Through this united approach, we will ensure that everyone's voice is heard, respected, and truly valued.
Foreword
Phill Mantay, Chief Executive
It is a huge pleasure to write this foreword to our Together Strategy 2025. This strategy will be a key document for everyone working here at Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT). From the Trust Board down, this strategy must inform the way we work and the choices we make.
We are rightly proud of the Together approach. As an organisation, we cannot improve mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity
services on our own. Working constructively with others is essential. The Together Strategy is a useful reminder that the key partnership is between our staff and experts by experience (both service users and their supporters, especially carers).
Our strategy makes clear that this partnership can take many shapes and forms: from consultation to co-production. Each has a role to play but it's important that we aim for coproduction, as much of the time as possible. That equal partnership should be our gold standard and be our default. Our strategy reminds us that we also need to be clear about the type and level of involvement. Too often, when I see projects elsewhere, they are heralded as being co-produced but the level of involvement falls far short.
The main challenge I see set out in the strategy is how we embed co-production and other forms of involvement. There is no 'one size fits all' solution to this. However, it helpfully encourages us to reflect on our culture, structure, and practice - and to continually assess whether co-production is truly embedded throughout the organisation. I am committed to making this happen. When I hear of new developments, I always ask whether they are being co-produced. I am frequently pleased to hear that they are but recognise that more needs to be done.
As you would expect, the Together Strategy was created using the Together approach. It has been co-produced with experts by experience who played a vital role in deciding the scope, direction and content. I am sincerely grateful to everyone who has given their time to help produce it. We have strong foundations here at DPT. We must now - together, follow the course set by this strategy, embed the Together approach and lead the way for others.
Hayley Jones, Expert by Experience
When I started working as an expert by experience at the end of 2023, I had a limited understanding of involvement and its impact. I was sceptical about the value of my experiences, my ability to participate, and whether my input could help improve services. However, as I worked on projects, I realised that everyone's experiences are valuable and through working together, we have an impact which outweighs our collective individual contributions.
Working with other experts by experience has highlighted how our skills and attributes complement each other. Some of us have academic qualifications or professional backgrounds which inform our involvement. Many of us have personal qualities such as empathy, compassion or a sense of justice which motivate and influence our work. All of us have opportunities to learn and develop skills through our work and the training offered by Together, which often leads to improvements in other areas of our lives.
In a relatively short period of time, I have seen the impact of involvement work - especially co-production - and how it can effect positive change. I know there are many barriers to embracing involvement of people with lived experience, not least of which are lack of time and funding, but the benefits are worth the investment. Through bringing together a range of perspectives and centring the experiences of people who use services, we can make a real difference to how services are delivered.
I'm proud of the new Together Strategy and want to thank everyone for their contributions.
Helping to revise the strategy has been a privilege and I hope it will be supported across DPT. Together, we can create meaningful change.
Context
The NHS has changed a lot over the last few years.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed us how important co-production is for creating real change. It helped form new partnerships, speed up research and bring in new ideas faster than ever before.
We learned some key lessons that can help us make co-production the normal way of working:
- Always start by focusing on what matters most to people who use and work in services
- Involve people with lived experience (patients, carers, people in lived experience roles) and staff at every stage to hear a wide range of voices
- Build equal, respectful partnerships between people with lived experience and staff.
The Health and Care Act 2022 also called for more joined-up and collaborative working - reaching beyond usual groups, breaking boundaries and working with people and communities to create real change.
To provide truly joined-up and person-centred care, we need to work across the whole system. This means partnering with voluntary organisations, community groups, councils, Healthwatch, and others - making sure their voices shape better services and help reduce health inequalities across Devon.
Right now, we know we don't have enough resources to meet all the needs of the people we serve. That's why the Together approach is so important. It can help us make better decisions about service changes, truly understand what our communities need and work with them to create safer, better services.
People who use our services, work in our services and partner with us have the skills and knowledge to change how care is designed and delivered.
Working with them as equal partners is key to achieving our goal of delivering the best possible care.
Alignment with other work
In addition to aligning with local and national priorities, this strategy is closely connected to several key areas of work within our organisation.
These include:
- The Carers Strategy, published in 2024
- The Clinical Strategy which was published in June 2025
- The Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Transformation and Culture of Care Programme, launched in 2024
- The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy and Workplan
These connections ensure a joined-up approach to improving care, supporting staff, and delivering inclusive and effective services across our organisation.
Vision and values
Our vision is simple: to involve people who use our services in everything we do.
We are committed to making this vision part of our everyday practice, by embedding meaningful involvement and co-producing changes that improve the experience of care for everyone.
Our values guide how we work together and shape the way we approach involvement. They reflect what matters most to us and how we want everyone, people with lived experience, carers, staff, and partners, to feel when they take part.
- Collaboration - we listen to all voices, share decision-making and work together to reach shared goals.
- Communication - we engage with experts by experience, carers, staff, and other stakeholders. We keep everyone informed, share updates on progress and explain how involvement has made a difference.
- Curiosity - we approach involvement with openness and a willingness to learn. We set aside assumptions and explore creative solutions together.
- Equality and diversity - everyone is welcome. Every voice matters. We celebrate difference and value all contributions.
- Respect - we treat everyone with kindness, dignity and understanding.
- Transparency - we are clear about roles, responsibilities, and expectations. Setting ground rules from the start helps everyone feel confident and included.
- Wellbeing - we support the emotional wellbeing of everyone involved and help people feel recognised, valued, and cared for.
By living these values, we aim to build a culture where involvement is not only welcomed, but expected and embedded in everything we do