Authentic consumer partnerships have the potential to build trust, foster equity and inclusion, support community health and well-being, and improve health outcomes.

However, creating these authentic partnerships requires a significant change of practice from most organizations to ensure that partnerships with consumers are mutually beneficial.

We launched Amplify: A consumer voices bureau in October 2020 to create a pathway for complex care organizations to connect to consumer experts., Through our work with Amplify, we have learned important lessons about how complex care organizations can strengthen their consumer engagement work.

In this brief, the Camden Coalition’s Evelyne Kane, Program Manager for Community Engagement, identifies four main areas that organizations should consider when engaging with consumer experts:

• break out of the traditional story-sharing box,
• ensure that spaces are inclusive and accessible,
• understand that a commitment to consumer engagement means committing resources, and
• clarify the what, why, and how upfront.

This brief serves as a guide to help organizations set the groundwork for mutually beneficial partnerships with community members and individuals with lived experience.