CMHL Co-design Program

CMHL is committed to supporting the statewide mental health workforces to implement the findings of the Royal Commission. We were funded by the Department of Health for a statewide lived experience co-design position. The Lived Experience Co-Design Project Lead supported the Victorian state-funded mental health services to increase their knowledge, confidence, and understanding of co-design approaches in mental health services.  

We developed a suite of resources to support collective learning and avenues for collaborative learning around co-design. This co-design introduction information pack includes: 

• Foundations of co-design - by CMHL
• Leading the Change: Co-producing safe, inclusive workplaces for consumer mental health workers
• Co-production: putting principles into practice in mental health contexts
• Equalising Power: reflective ideas & questions
• A role for lived experience mental health leadership in the age of Covid-19 - by Byrne & Wykes
• Authentic engagement: A conceptual model for welcoming diverse and challenging consumer and survivor views in mental health research, policy, and practice - by Daya, Hamilton & Roper
• Rising Together - Lifting the lid on the experiences of family/carer lived experience workers

Our Co-design Team: 

We are committed to using co-design principles and mindsets to lead by example and created an internal co-design team that included: 

• Deb, Lived Experience Co-Design Lead 

• Nina, Administration Officer 

• Rosie, Director 

• Beth, Leadership Development Coordinator 

What awe did? 

The initial phase of this work was focussed on designing the role. We were guided by the sector to gain a greater understanding of the workforce's development needs. This included:  

• Reviewing the information collected in our scoping to develop a suite of tools and resources to support co-design in action 

• Creating a resource hub on our website with resources to support co-design work 

• Developing education and training based on the identified needs of the workforce. 

• Providing secondary consultations to services in relation to co-design and co-production.

We worked with the Department of Health Mental Health Division and the Human-Centred Design Hub, and TACSI to support this work.  

This project ended in May 2023. A summary of the work we did is available  HERE.