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Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF)

The Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF) is a well-established group run by and for people from all different backgrounds. The aim of LEAF is to have voices from Experts Through Experience heard to improve service delivery and better outcomes for all (services and people who use them) across Oxfordshire and nationally, whilst also offering forum members new opportunities, connections, and room for growth.
Play video iconLEAF Lucy Monica
Lucy and Monica explain how LEAF works

Accessing this service

The Forum meets regularly at the New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square, but days and times vary so please check the What’s On calendar of activities for details.

You can also see details of LEAF activities on the following monthly schedules:
          March 2025

To find out more about joining LEAF email leaf@oxfordgatehouse.org or send us a message using the contact form below.
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    Help provided by this service

    LEAF aims to work holistically across different services such as housing and homelessness, education, criminal justice, health care, employment and welfare.

    Members of LEAF work in partnership with services to co-produce, inform, develop and design current and future service delivery at a local and national level. LEAF believes that the voice of Experts Through Experience should always be at the centre of how services are shaped and delivered.

    LEAF is facilitated by the Gatehouse and generously funded by  Oxfordshire Homeless Movement 

    LEAF aims to provide opportunities and training for people who may often experience barriers due to their past or current circumstances and will tailor an individual development plan to the needs and wants of the LEAF member. There are no time boundaries! Another aim of LEAF’s is to ensure that the valuable voices of everyone are at the core of the design and delivery of services that impact on people’s everyday lives

    LEAF benefits from being diverse and inclusive and welcomes everyone from all walks of life. LEAF is a safe place to use your experiences to influence positive systemic change.

    Information about LEAF activities plus co-produced reports and findings and much more can be found on our LEAF Activities page.

    Positive impacts of this service

    LEAF has supported all forum members building on their own goals in life with new skills to add to their CVs – with some forum members achieving their goal of gaining full time employment.

    All of LEAF’s forum members have noticed an improvement in their overall wellbeing.

    In 2024 LEAF members with lived experience took part in projects involving more than 20 co-production partners across a wide range of topics. See the LEAF Activities page for more details of some of the recent and completed projects. Alongside this LEAF members also benefitted from more than 20 training sessions and workshops to help them increase both their skills base and confidence, in line with the main aim of LEAF to nurture personal development of its members.

    Testimonials by LEAF members

    “You are not alone when you are part of LEAF and you can get you voice heard”
    “LEAF is a positive place to be listening, sharing and making a difference”
    “LEAF is a place where we can start bringing positive change from our lived experience”
    “All those years on the street can be turned into something positive to help others because we know what it’s like and express it to those who have not lived it”

    Co-production partner feedback

    “I can't emphasise enough how important the involvement of LEAF is in this process - you are one of the few areas to be doing "genuine" involvement of lived experience in service development... This is very rare when you look at the other areas... ”

    Dr Michelle Cornes, Senior Research Fellow, Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London

    Read more in our 2023 Co-production feedback report