ABSTRACT
Family input and co-creation of new understandings and techniques enable continual improvement of treatment practices and outcomes. This chapter describes how to co-create treatment in the present moment, with families and health professionals, and explains how this collaboration benefits future families. Our work is founded on shared decision-making, co-research, the empowerment and recovery movement, first-person perspectives, and collaborative approaches, participatory action research, service user involvement, and the “nothing-about-us-without-us” movement in mental health services. Our principle-based guide, which we also call a manual, demands close attention to the collaborative nature of our actions and requires that we adjust our approach to each family. The families have taught us about important ethical aspects and concrete details of working collaboratively, when we create and revise our guide collaboratively, with the families. Stories describe challenges when co-creating meaning with parents, and how we consult with patients in a more formal co-research project, inspired by the idea of patients being consultants to others.
