Experiential knowledge in action: Consulting practitioners for policy change

The success of practitioner involvement in a policy consultation process is usually taken to be evident in the extent to which the resulting policy document is shaped by their views. Taking as its case study a public consultation for a new Scottish mental health policy, and drawing on theories of knowledge, this paper finds that for practitioner involvement in this consultation it is not possible to measure impact in this way. This is because the experiential and verbal knowledge of practitioners is not easily transferable through the different stages of the consultation process and into the final policy document. Instead, another significant effect resulting from practitioner involvement in the consultation is identified. Practitioner participation in the consultation is found to be a productive process of learning or education which produces a policy community more aware of its role in relation to the new policy.