Patient & Family Engagement
As health care professionals, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to engage people with lived and living experience in health service planning, delivery, and evaluation.
The Patient Experience and Community Engagement team is here to support you to partner with the people you serve through resources, training and coaching.
Contact us at engage_bcmhsus@phsa.ca for support. We can help you initiate, design and implement a successful engagement process for your research, service, program, and other quality improvement projects.
Spectrum of engagement with patients and families
This framework shows the full range of engagement across different areas.
Use this spectrum to:
- plan your engagement strategy
- identify the level most appropriate for your project
- clearly communicate the goal to patients, families, and others involved, including internal decision-makers
You can see the spectrum on page 6 of the BCMHSUS Patient and Family Engagement Framework (PDF).
Patient and family engagement framework
We developed the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Patient and Family Engagement Framework (PDF) in partnership with people with lived experience.
The framework is your guide to engaging with patients and families. Any health organization interested in improving their engagement can use it. It is based on decades of evidence and world-wide best practices, as well as the incredible guidance of people with lived and living experience. We have adapted these standards for the unique and specialized work we do at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services.
The framework outlines:
- How we define patient and family engagement and why we need it for exceptional care
- The Spectrum of Engagement, based on international best practices and customized for BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services
- Practical steps for meaningful engagement
Decision tool
We also have a helpful tool to answer the question “Should I be engaging with people with lived experience?” The decision tool (PDF) helps you determine whether and when to engage patients and families.
Contact us
Email engage_bcmhsus@phsa.ca. We have more resources to support you. We can also help you initiate, design, and implement a successful engagement process for your research, service, program, and other quality improvement projects.
You can also get involved with our work as a patient/family partner, or in a variety of other ways.