TAPPI Phase 2: New personal stories from TAPPI Champions

TAPPI Personal Stories social media card

The second phase of TAPPI is committed to co-production. The approach we have designed is a Champions’ model. Each of the six TAPPI testbed sites nominated staff and tenants to join the Co-production Champions Group. There are 17 members of the Champions’ group, 9 tenants and 8 staff.

The Champions’ group provides a pool of tenants and staff who can get involved in all the various aspects of TAPPI. The group meets virtually on Zoom every six weeks to:

  • share experiences of using technology
  • learn about co-production
  • and hear from guest speakers about different aspects of TAPPI.

The group is facilitated by Pete Fleischmann and Jolie Goodman from Co-production Works. In between the meetings, the Champions are responsible for leading co-production in their local testbed site.

The Champions’ group makes sure that the voice of later life housing tenants is at the heart of everything that TAPPI does, enabling TAPPI to be rooted in people’s lives and the reality of their experiences.

The 4 personal stories collected here are the authentic voices of the Champions. The stories cover the positives and negatives of digital technology, peoples’ hopes and fears and highlight how technology can be both a blessing and a curse.

We spoke with:

  • Debra, 54, a former midwife who lives alone in a supported housing scheme in North London managed by Homes for Haringey
  • Marilyn, 81, a retired cardiology nurse residing at an Extra Care service in Swansea with Pobl Group, a housing, care, and support provider
  • Rosemary, 76, who lives in a retirement village in Ledbury, Herefordshire, managed by Platform Housing Group, and
  • Alice, 89, and Peter, 82, who reside in a Bield Housing & Care-managed retirement complex

They told us how they feel about technology, why they wanted to get involved with TAPPI, what the barriers to using technology are and how they think these barriers can be overcome.