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LEAF Activities

The Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF) offers the opportunity for individuals with lived experience of homelessness to participate in projects with a wide variety of external organisations. On this page you can discover more about the formal outcomes of those projects together with feedback from individual LEAF members on their experiences participating in the Forum.
LEAF is funded by the Oxfordshire Homeless Movement and provided in partnership with both Aspire and the Oxfordshire Homeless Movement.
For more details about LEAF and how to join in as a member of the Forum see the main LEAF page. We look forward to welcoming you!

Downloadable update reports on LEAF activities:
March 2023 report

LEAF’s Knowledge Hub

LEAF's Knowledge Hub is a valuable source of work completed by experts by experience. The hub contains a mixture of collaborative and independent work completed by LEAF members around homelessness and working with experts by experience.

The Knowledge Hub contains a listing of some of the many completed projects that LEAF members have been involved in, and includes links to partner organisations together with downloadable reports and findings.
February 2023

Involving & recruiting people with lived experience

Between November 2022 and February 2023, Homeless Link facilitated a 4-part Community of Practice (CoP) series on ‘involving & recruiting people with lived experience’ that LEAF participated in. The purpose of the series was to delve deeper into how we recruit, involve, offer volunteering opportunities, and respectfully pay people with lived experience. The sessions provided a safe place for organisations across England to reflect, build relationships, share best practice, and ultimately create change.

This briefing, which can be read on the Homeless Link website, outlines the key findings and learning from discussions held across the CoP series. It also provides links to existing toolkits and guidance for further reading and exploration.
November 2022

LEAF Storytelling

Between January to July 2022, members of LEAF and the Aspire team worked with the Old Fire Station to learn about the Storytelling evaluation approach and to put it into practice.

They collected the stories of 8 people involved in different ways in LEAF to help understand people’s experiences of LEAF to date and what we could learn from this going forward.
Download Aspire and LEAF Stories
Between January to July 2022, members of LEAF and the Aspire team worked with the Old Fire Station to learn about the Storytelling evaluation approach and to put it into practice.

They collected the stories of 8 people involved in different ways in LEAF to help understand people’s experiences of LEAF to date and what we could learn from this going forward. Read their stories here. (downloadable pdf).

On 27 June 2022, we brought together LEAF members, staff and colleagues from a range of local partners to discuss the stories collected and what we can learn from them. You can read here the final report on the Stories and findings produced in October 2022 which is available in both a complete version and a shorter summarised version.
Download LEAF Storytelling: short version
Download LEAF Storytelling: complete version
November 2022

Lived Experience: learning from others

LEAF collaborated with Beyond the Streets and Lived Experience Matters to contribute to 'Lived Experience: learning from others' – a new resource for third sector organisations which brings together knowledge, expertise and experience from across the lived experience movement. You can take look at the resource on the Beyond the Streets website or download the final report.
November 2020

Housing-led feasibility study for Oxfordshire

LEAF completed a peer-led research study, working alongside Imogen Blood & Associates and Crisis to develop a feasibility study into a housing-led approach for Oxfordshire. LEAF members also interviewed over 30 local residents experiencing homelessness, providing real insight, depth and learning for the sector, which contributed towards the recommissioning of the homeless pathway in Oxfordshire.

Download Housing-led feasibility study for Oxfordshire

More Activities

LEAF Blog

LEAF Festival of Feedback & Storytelling
On the 11th and 12th July our Lived Experience Advisory Forum team (LEAF) will be holding an exciting new event - a Festival of Feedback and Storytelling. The first day will be for individuals with lived experience of homelessness or vulnerable housing while the second day is open for Alliance services frontline workers and volunteers.
Welcome to LEAF !
We're excited to launch our LEAF blog on this brand new Gatehouse website and will be bringing you more news on our activities over the months to come!
This blog is a platform for LEAF members to have their views on different topics around homelessness. Please Note: At LEAF, we strive to amplify the voices of those within our communities. The views represented in these blogs represent the views of the individual authors independently and not those of LEAF as a whole.

Services & Activities

LEAF Blog

LEAF Festival of Feedback & Storytelling
On the 11th and 12th July our Lived Experience Advisory Forum team (LEAF) will be holding an exciting new event - a Festival of Feedback and Storytelling. The first day will be for individuals with lived experience of homelessness or vulnerable housing while the second day is open for Alliance services frontline workers and volunteers.
Welcome to LEAF !
We're excited to launch our LEAF blog on this brand new Gatehouse website and will be bringing you more news on our activities over the months to come!
This blog is a platform for LEAF members to have their views on different topics around homelessness. Please Note: At LEAF, we strive to amplify the voices of those within our communities. The views represented in these blogs represent the views of the individual authors independently and not those of LEAF as a whole.