The Women's Action Group and Vicki Burn, Senior Lived Experience Coordinator at Shelter, share how lived experience insights can influence services and inform decision making.
Published September 2026.
What is lived experience insight?
Lived experience insight is the practice of people with personal experience offering their expert knowledge about how support services can be improved. The Women's Action Group (WAG) in Bristol is an example of lived experience in action. By sharing their experiences of the housing emergency, WAG members can help organisations better understand the challenges people face and any barriers that exist.
Vicki Burn is a Senior Lived Experience Coordinator at Shelter who facilitates lived experience groups, including the WAG. She emphasises the difference between professional knowledge and the insight that comes from direct personal experience of housing issues:
'I've worked in housing and homelessness services for over 20 years, so I have a lot of learned experience from these roles, but there's a difference between supporting someone through the system and actually going through it yourself.'
What is coproduction?
Lived experience insights are often used as part of 'coproduction'. This means people with lived experience shape the design and delivery of services.
Coproduction goes a step further than simply consultation or involvement, Vicki explains. It requires a meaningful shift in power that challenges traditional hierarchies.
In coproduction work, people with lived experience:
share control, influence and decision making throughout the entire process
have genuine influence over the outcomes
Who are the Women's Action Group?
The Women's Action Group (WAG) is a collaboration involving women with lived experience of homelessness and poor housing in Bristol. Working together with Shelter, the group focuses on creating systemic change and raising awareness of the housing issues women face within the city.
Over several years, the group has used their collective voice to influence services and raise awareness of women's needs, so they are at the forefront of housing services and policies.
Lived experience groups like the WAG recognise that experiences of homelessness or housing injustice give people unique expertise. Group members have navigated systems and overcome barriers, so they have first-hand knowledge of the impact that services, policies and decisions have on their lives, and the lives of their families.
Case study: how the WAG influenced Bristol City Council's domestic abuse policy
The WAG played a key role in shaping Bristol City Council's Domestic Abuse Housing Policy, which sets out how the council responds to tenants experiencing domestic abuse.
Drawing on their lived experience, group members reviewed drafts of the policy and provided feedback to ensure it better reflected the realities and needs of women affected by abuse.
Their input helped make the policy more trauma-informed, accessible and responsive to survivors' experiences. Members highlighted the importance of establishing trust, clear communication and recognising how financial abuse can prevent women from seeking support.
The group's contribution was formally recognised when Bristol City Council published the policy, crediting the WAG and Shelter for their involvement.
Using lived experience insight to improve services
Lived experience insight from groups like the Women's Action Group (WAG) can help improve services and make them more approachable for users.
From their own experiences, the group know that homelessness services can feel intimidating and unsafe for women affected by trauma, domestic abuse or in recovery. In discussions with group members, they shared concerns about falling through the cracks if they are 'too high needs' or 'not high needs enough' to get help.
Some women recalled feeling anxious about being asked lots of questions when they approached services for help. They worried that someone was deliberately trying to trick them during enquiries into their situation – especially if they didn't have much formal evidence.
Group members shared the following advice that can help make services feel approachable:
'treat everyone equally, but acknowledge that everyone's situation is different'
'stay accountable – communicate and keep me in the loop, even if you don't have all the answers'
'listen, be kind and don't discriminate'
Case study: making services approachable at the Women's Hub
The WAG wants housing services to understand that gender matters, and women need to feel safe to engage.
They identified a real gap in gender-informed services for women facing homelessness in Bristol that would feel safe and empowering.
In 2026, the WAG set up a weekly multi-agency drop-in called the Women's Hub in a local women's centre. The drop-in provides access to specialist support services such as housing, domestic abuse, substance misuse, benefits and money. This project is an example of successful cross-sector working, as multiple organisations work together to deliver the drop-in.
The Women's Hub removes barriers to access, as the drop-in is open to new people seeking help for the first time. There is also practical help, including a creche for those with young children.
Every quarter, the WAG reviews the drop-in to make sure lived experience voices remain central as the Hub evolves. WAG members and other women with lived experience also volunteer in the space, providing a meet and greet service to women accessing the Hub.
Lived experience insight for a gender-informed approach
Gender affects how people experience both housing injustice and housing services. The Women's Action Group (WAG) takes a gender-informed approach, providing a safe space for people who identify as women to share their insights.
Women-only spaces like the WAG allow these conversations to happen in a supportive environment, encouraging greater openness than in other mixed sex settings.
Through their own varied experiences, WAG members understand how homelessness and housing issues affect women in nuanced and complex ways.
Some women described the trauma of moving into temporary accommodation in an unfamiliar area, and having to move their children into new schools at short notice. One member explained that she felt unsupported in temporary accommodation, saying 'it's like the box is ticked because now I have a roof over my head'.
Others shared how they felt unsafe living with male resident landlords or in mixed sex emergency accommodation.
For the group, these experiences highlight the difference between having a roof over your head and actually feeling safe and supported.
The complexities of housing law cause further confusion and stress, particularly if services don't explain things clearly. But many members said that being part of the WAG has equipped them with knowledge and confidence to advocate for their rights.
Case study: the Women's Rough Sleeping Census
Bristol takes part in the annual Women's Rough Sleeping Census. This census addresses the problem that women's homelessness is often hidden in statistics about rough sleeping.
The WAG is the main consulting group informing how the census is conducted across the city, providing feedback on the questions asked and shaping the signposting and support offered to respondents. They contributed to guidance for volunteers on how to ask questions in a trauma-informed way.
Also, group members have volunteered and partnered with outreach teams to conduct the census and collect data.
Making lived experience groups meaningful
Lived experience groups can take many different forms. For example, housing associations often have tenant involvement groups, or local authorities might set up focus groups, surveys or consultations to help tackle particular issues.
Vicki says that making lived experience groups meaningful and not just a tokenistic 'tick box exercise' requires a culture of equity, mutual benefit and transparency. Some practical ways to build this culture include:
providing opportunities for peer support and personal or professional development
reimbursing people fairly for their time and expertise
involving the group throughout all stages of a project or activity
Think about possible barriers to participation, and how your organisation can overcome them. Can you loan a tablet computer for someone to join virtual meetings? Or pay for a taxi if someone is nervous about getting to the venue by public transport?
Vicki shares her top three lessons for housing services who want to set up their own lived experience group:
1. Listen to the people your organisation serves
Speak to the people who your organisation is there to help. Be open-minded and curious. Prioritise anti-racism and equity to ensure groups are safe, accessible and inclusive spaces for people to share their experiences. Take the time to listen to ideas about what they want to change.
2. Set expectations from the start
If there are multiple stakeholders involved in a project, be open about what can and can't be influenced, and that people with lived experience might not always have the final say.
It's important to be transparent and set that expectation from the start of coproduction work. Show people that their feedback has been listened to and considered, even if it's not possible to take everything forward.
3. Create opportunities to drive change
People can get frustrated after a while just talking about what's wrong with the system. Create opportunities to drive meaningful change. Demonstrating the impact that the group's contributions are having builds trust and increases engagement.
What lived experience insight can achieve
The Women's Action Group (WAG) continues to influence housing justice at a local and national level. Group members recently spoke in Parliament and Downing Street about their experiences. While they accept that they can't change what they went through, the group are driven to create change for other women at the sharp end of the housing emergency.
As a final note, the WAG shared their advice about what makes lived experience groups and coproduction most effective:
'Most importantly - it's not about being consulted. It's about being co-creators and involved every step of the way. That's what makes this work meaningful. Services should be built on humanity not hierarchy. It's not real inclusion if the voices most affected are missing.'