Preparing for the sessions

Below are a number of things for people to consider as we prepare for working together in the online workshops. We invite you to take a look to support your involvement in the sessions.

Mindsets we invite you to step into

No matter the depth of co-design possible in any project, mindsets are a powerful tool to support the ways we can be and do together.

Adopting these mindsets supports us all to work together equitably to create collective outcomes.

An outline of five fingers. Each finger points to each of the five mindsets.

Value all expertise including lived experience

In practice this could look like:

Running power-balanced processes and asking ourselves:

Am I/Are we:

Privileging the voices and involvement of those most affected?
Providing authentic opportunities for people with living / lived experience to create, test, refine, implement and lead?
Welcoming challenging voices and pay attention to living / lived experiences that feels hard to hear?
Driving for equity not just equality?
Celebrating strengths and the moments of people stepping in to power?
Encouraging and supporting those with power to practice letting go of power so that others may take it up?

Supporting diverse teams and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Making space for different truths and worldviews?
Redefining our understanding of expert?
Including a full diversity of expertise: Lived, living, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, academic, practice, clinical, co-production?

Different and better is possible

In practice this could look like:

Establishing a shared vision and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Moving each other towards a compelling shared vision?

Imagining multiple alternatives and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Intentionally creating multiple options from which we can choose the best?

Clarity is kindness

In practice this could look like:

Defining and sharing boundaries. (intent, project, roles, process) and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Being honest and clear on who will make what decisions in this work?

Building authentic relationships and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Taking the time to connect with other team members and stakeholders as people?

Embrace learning

In practice this could look like:

Naming and testing assumptions and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Starting with questions not solutions?

Building on what’s known and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Taking time to understand what’s known in the literature, in practice and by community members?

Being in the grey and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Taking on a beginners mindset?
Getting comfortable with not knowing, not having answers, not being sure?

Learn by doing and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Making things and testing them with people out in the world?
Having generative conversations to imagine what could be?

Safe enough and brave enough

In practice this could look like:

Convening for safety, courage and momentum and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Creating separate spaces for different members (eg, consumers, clinicians, family, carers) to gather and unpack what’s difficult, and bring it back to the group?
Investing time into activities that energise the group, and keep it cohesive, respectful, equitable and effective?
Noticing the impacts of challenging work, ideas and issues, and as needed, slowing down to attend to these?

Creating cultural safety and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Acknowledging structural and systemic racism and the ongoing impacts of colonisation?
Showing signs or cultural acknowledgement and respect?
Respecting that people have different kinds and levels of cultural connection?
Not relying on certain people in the group to be the sole educate others (being aware of emotional labour)?
Be aware that people may not be on the land of their ancestors?
"Are we ensuring there is more then one black face in the room?" - Aunty Vickey Charles

Being trauma aware and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Acknowledging the harms caused by the system?
Creating space for autonomy, choice?
Committed to building trust?
Celebrating peoples strengths and not just seeing them through a lens of suffering?

Drawing on process experience and asking ourselves

Am I/Are we:

Drawing on the expertise of people who have done this before to create safety and bravery?

Power sharing and making decisions

Getting clear on power sharing and making decisions

The depth of power sharing possible is unique to each project. Before each project it is helpful to ask the following questions in order to create a clear sense of deliberation and decision-making parameters for this work. The below is also seeking to provide transparent responses to these questions.

What decisions are being made?

Decisions relating to the wording of the principles, and the initial details relating to the role and structure of each peak.

These decisions will inform the development of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines (GoGs) which will set the requirement for the competitive process for the funding of the peaks. In the future, the peaks will be evaluated for how closely they adhere to the co-designed role and structure.

Who is making these decisions?

The people with diverse lived/living experiences who are within the consumer group and the carer, families and kin group.

Additional people with lived/living experiences whose perspectives are not represented in the consumer and carers, families and kin groups who will be engaged between sessions 4 and 5 to contribute to the work as it is being developed. These people will be referred to as Additional Voices.

The people who participate in the consumer and carer groups who are members of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Division of the Department of Health and Aged Care.

What decisions are off the table?

How much funding each peak will receive – $7.5 million over three years has been committed to by the Australian Government. The allocation of this funding is a decision of the Government.
How the funding will be delivered – this funding will delivered through a competitive Grant Opportunity, which will be informed by the outcomes of this co-design process.
What organisation will receive the funding - who is ultimately funded to establish and operate the peaks is a decision of the Government. This process will be competitive, open and transparent – with applicant/s being assessed on their ability to deliver each peak against the requirements outlined in the Grant Opportunity.

Bringing yourself

The workshops will be intending to create a space for mutual learning, understanding, shared decision making, designing and refining together.

Here's a guide about how you might show up to group sessions according to your experience.

People bringing lived and living experience

You don’t need to prepare anything prior to the workshop. You only need to bring yourself, a curiosity to learn and willingness to share what you are comfortable sharing.

You won’t need to disclose anything and only need to share what your comfortable sharing. You won’t be asked to introduce yourself by diagnosis or employment status - just your name and anything else you’d like to share.

Others with lived experience will also be attending in the majority, alongside members of the Mental Health Division - Department of Health and Aged Care. Together, we’ll form a ‘team’ and work together across the 5 online workshops. We all have something to bring to the process, no type of experience is more or less valid.

You can tell us anything that would make your involvement easier and/or more comfortable (e.g. access needs, needs around reading and writing, preference to have a support person in attendance, etc.)

We need and value your contribution. You can let us know at any point of the process if anything is getting in the way of that or could be made better.

Your participation is voluntary, you can withdraw it at anytime and don’t have to tell us why.

You will be an active participant alongside others, listening, learning and sharing your own perspectives. You’ll share your view, as well as listening to others and working with them towards the foundations of a residential service that centres lived experience and delivers the outcomes people ask for.

If you’d like to bring along a support person for one or more of the sessions, you’re most welcome to do so. Let us know in advance, so we can cater for and welcome them.

Power: a reflective activity

Types of power

Reflective ideas & questions

Equalising power is part of co-design, but sometimes it can be challenging to notice our own power. These are some ideas and questions to explore, alone or in a group, which may be helpful.

Power is about your ability to influence outcomes
Power is relative and relational. It’s not just about how much you can influence in the world, but also how much influence you have in relation to others.
Power is often related to privilege.
Unchecked power can make spaces and outcomes inequitable and unsafe

Expert power

Being perceived as holding important, expert knowledge. It is often tied to disciplines, seniority and qualifications.

Reflection: If you disagree with different people in the group, who is most likely to be believed?

Legitimate power

Your formal and/or legal authority, and is often related to your discipline, organisation and/or job role. You might have the power to end the group or change the topic. In a mental health space, it also relates to the authority you (and others in your role) can have over others. For consumers, this is a very significant power difference.

Reflection: What formal authority do you have in relation to the group, or the people in it, that may give you more or less influence?

Referent power

Being admired and/or agreeable. Referent power (or the lack of it) is often related to individual qualities but can be socially ascribed to particular groups or social roles which are perceived as admired or ‘other’. Referent power can be challenging for consumers to maintain while also sharing messages that are emotion-laden, hard to hear or push against the status quo.

Reflection: Do you tend to raise points that are consistent with dominant beliefs, or which challenge them? Do people tend to agree with you easily, or argue with you?

Coercive power

Being able to do something others do not want or withdraw something they value. You might be able to withdraw funding or support, or be critical in the media, or go on strike. You may be able to have someone medicated against their will. Coercive power doesn’t have to be exerted to have an influence, perception alone can increase influence. For consumers, past experiences of direct coercion in services can make this particular power feel very strong, especially if participating with a service they have used themselves.

Reflection: Do you have the ability to do things to others in the group that may prevent them from speaking openly?

Reward power

Being able to give things that others want or take away things they don’t want. This can include being able to provide ongoing employment opportunities, or funding, support or opportunities that others desire. Reward power, like coercive power, can rest with individuals, roles and organisations.

Reflection: Do you have the ability to give things to people that they really want, and how might this influence frank and free communication?

Two other types of power are worth considering:

Informational power
Having information that others want or need

Connection power
Having access to people with legitimate, coercive or reward power

A note on privilege

Most people hold privilege in some areas and lack privilege in others, and like power, it can be hard to notice. Some people have lots of privilege, and some people have hardly any at all.

Privilege can be another source of power and inequity: race, class, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, mental health, education level, literacy, past trauma, age, citizenship, etc.

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