A guide for the Australian mental health sector
Good design
Meaningful engagement
Client: Beyond Blue
Agency: Portable in partnership with YLab
Sector: Mental health and wellbeing
Duration: 12 weeks
What I did: desktop research • stakeholder engagement and activity design • workshops and synthesis • content direction and oversight to create a Guide that’s accessible and easy-to-use for its intended audience.
Problem
People the world over are experiencing more anxiety, more often.
Mental health leaders and practitioners need best practice guidance on how to engage with their communities to create and deliver better services and models of care.
Approach
Human-centred and collaborative
We took human-centred and collaborative approach to engaging with stakeholders to create a Guide that responds to the needs of the sector.
Our approach to incorporating best practice design principles focused on accessibility and usability, ensuring that people with different needs and levels of experience could easily engage with the content we created.
Deliverables
A comprehensive Guide and suite of design method templates
The Guide includes sections on the key principles for designing with people; mindsets for designing better outcomes; the design process; a step-by-step plan for a successful project; and how to design safe and inclusive engagements.
Detailed case studies are used throughout to illustrate key design processes or considerations. Case studies covered:
The double diamond in action
Inviting diverse young people to participate in mental health workshops
Participant safety
How to monitor and evaluate your project
Workshop design for young people
The design method templates are resources that leaders and practitioners can use right across the different stages of the design process.
Impact
Good design, meaningful engagement offers a consistent framework for design best practice for the Australian mental health sector.
Leaders and practitioners in the mental health sector now have access to consistent guidance on how they can go about approaching the design and delivery of services and models of care that better meet the needs of their communities.