Case studies

Thank you for considering sharing your story about being a Futures customer.

We use personal stories or 'case studies' to bring to life the experiences of people who live in our communities, to raise awareness of our services and showcase the positive impact that living in a Futures home can have. We’re proud of the work we do as a housing association with a strong purpose, and we want to make sure we’re helping as many people as possible. Hearing your story might give someone else the confidence to reach out and get the support they need too.

There are also lots of unhelpful and often negative stereotypes, especially in the media, about people living in social housing. Sharing a diverse range of real-life stories and experiences helps to set the record straight and show that our customers are just like everyone else - diverse, unique and a valuable part of the community.

There are a few ways we use case studies. You might have been asked to take part in a case study for a specific reason, like a campaign or our annual review, or we might want to use your story to promote a specific service such as money or employment advice. They might be used on our website and social media channels, in the press or in publications that we or other organisations have created.

We know it can be scary to put yourself out there, and we appreciate that you might have some concerns. We hope this information will reassure you and set your mind at ease. If you do have any other questions, you can email communications@futureshg.co.uk and the team will be happy to help.

What’s the process for creating a case study?

Case studies are created by our PR & communications team in collaboration with other teams across Futures.

There are a few different ways we identify case study participants. We might be contacted by one of our colleagues from another team who thinks someone they’ve been working with has a great story to tell. In this situation, we’ll either contact you ourselves, or the person you’ve been working with might get in touch to ask if you’re happy to take part. We’ll then gather some information from you, either over the phone, email or in person, and we’ll type it up into a case study for you to approve.

When we send over your case study, we’ll also send a media consent form which you will need to sign and return to us. Without this form, we cannot use your case study anywhere. We’ll also either ask you to send us a photo, or arrange for a photographer to visit you, depending on what the case study is for. Once we’ve received your consent form and photograph, we will go ahead and share the case study. 

Sometimes we’ll also ask for volunteers to participate in case studies through MyVoice, our online community, or by contacting customers directly.

Do I have to include my name?

We like to include names with our case studies, because it helps to reassure those reading that we’re not just making them up! Names also help our audience to connect with the person they’re reading about and identify better with their story.

However, we understand that there may be reasons you’re not comfortable sharing your name alongside your story publicly. If this is the case, we can either just include your first name, or if you prefer, we can pseudonymise the case study and use a different one entirely.

If there’s a safety reason you’d like us to use an alternative name please let us know. So we can keep you as safe as possible we may want to change some details in the story, so it’s not as easy to identify you. We’ll always discuss this with you first.

Please make sure you use your full name on the consent form – it won’t be published anywhere, but we need a record that you’ve agreed for us to use your story.

Will I need a photo?

We normally ask for a photo to accompany your case study. This might be something we arrange, for example asking a photographer to visit you at home, or it might be that we ask you to send us something. Remember, the photo you provide is going to be shared publicly so don’t send anything you wouldn’t be happy to have on our website!

If you prefer not to have a photograph you can still participate in the case study – we will likely use some indicative images (images that link to what your story is about) alongside it instead.

Can I change my mind?

To a point, yes. If you decide at any point during the process of putting your case study together that you don’t want to continue, we can delete any information we have so far and won’t go any further.

However, if we’ve already published your case study, all we can guarantee is that we will not share it any further. Once it is available in the public sphere, we have limited control over it – for example, it might be shared by other organisations on social media or included in a newspaper. Although we can remove it from our website and social media channels, we are not able to take it completely out of circulation if it has already been shared elsewhere.