seven ways we can help
If you are leading, funding or sponsoring co-design or other kinds of co, participatory or community engagement approaches with people who have relevant lived and living experience, (what a mouthful!) here are seven ways we can help you do it better.
1. Understand and apply the Essentials for Lived Experience Engagement
Team Professional Development Session
Book a professional development session for you and your team.
Together we will explore the essentials of working with lived experience in current best practice.
We'll talk about what you’re doing now (no judgement) and identify some ways to level up and do better.
You’ll come away with a shared understanding of the basics of current best practices and some actionable quick wins to get moving on.
We'll also have a one-hour check-in three months down the track, to celebrate your wins and troubleshoot any stumbling blocks.
And there's a 10% discount for ongoing mentoring or help.
2. Understand and apply the Essentials for Lived Experience Engagement
Professional Development Session - For executives and senior leadership teams
Understand and apply the Essentials for Lived Experience Engagement - Professional Development Session - For executives and senior leadership teams.
A targeted professional development session specifically for executives and senior leadership teams whose organisations involve people with lived and living experience and expertise in their work. Or those who need to start.
It aims to
Improve - your literacy and understanding of the basics of current terminology and practice needed for meaningful lived experience engagement and co-ways of working.
Apply - these essential elements and steps to where your senior leadership and organisation are at in everyday terms right now. In a confidential (no judgement) space.
Strengthen your ongoing endeavours and give your staff the tools they need to succeed.
Together you'll get up to speed on current terminology and practice and consider how to sponsor, enable, and support these approaches from a senior leadership perspective.
3. Set your project up for success
We work with senior leaders and project teams to plan, prepare, and set work up for success in ways that suit your context.
You might need this if you are looking to
use words like co-design, co-production,co-creation, collaboration, or community engagement to describe your work
run a community consultation or focus group
develop a lived experience or co-design strategy or framework
recruit a broad representative mix of people with relevant lived or living experience to be part of your work
create conditions for meaningful co-design or participatory ways of working
partner effectively with consumers and carers
build trust and connection with the communities you serve
or something similar
Building engagement experiences where people feel safe, welcome, able to contribute, and ‘come as they are’ doesn’t happen by accident. Creating them and weaving them through your work is what we are great at.
See our recent work with NSW Health and Beyond Sticky Notes.
4. Start a lived experience advisory group or structure
We can help you set up an effective, productive, and robust lived experience advisory group or structure that can help you shape your policies, programs, and services to be better, fairer, and more impactful.
You might need
an advisory group at the governance level
a working group for a collaborative project
a co-design crew as part of a co-design process
some form of lived experience advisory network, panel, register, or function to engage and be involved in your ongoing work
something similar
It takes skill and experience to recruit a broad representative mix of the voices and perspectives of the people and communities you serve and create enabling structure, conditions, and culture.
Talk to us about how we can help you make that happen.
5. Recruit a lived experience leadership role
We offer strategic advice and practical support to find the best-fit person to fill a lived experience senior leadership role in your organisation.
You might need help with
development of a position description
an expression of interest, recruitment, and selection process
conducting the candidate search through wide and trusted networks
assistance with interviews
support to ensure you set the role up for success
ensure organisational readiness
coordination of the entire process
something else
We love to see these roles increasingly being created and their value being understood. We want you to find the best fit lived experience leader for your organisation and for the process to happen in such a way that both the person and the rest of your workforce are set up to succeed and benefit.
Let us help you make it happen.
6. Find a mix of people and perspectives to be involved in your project
We have the skills and experience to support and guide you to find and work in inclusive and accessible ways with a mix of people, identities, experiences, and cultures from the communities that you serve.
You might need this for a
lived experience advisory or working group
co-design crew or team
focus groups or community consultations
a lived experience register
a panel or event
a participatory project or community engagement
something similar
Be confident that you are hearing from many different voices, backgrounds, and perspectives, and in ways that suit the context of your work or community.
Get in touch here to find out how we can help
7. Help to get unstuck (or start)
We know what it's like to feel stuck or to have no idea where to start when it comes to co-ways of working. So we created the power hour to help get you back into action.
You might need
to sense-check a project or approach
a fresh set of expert eyes to re-assess where you’re at
an expert to help to decide where to start
ideas for getting past a roadblock or barrier that you’re not sure how to navigate
or something else that will take us an hour to talk through together
More than words and good intentions, co-ways of working are not one size fits all, and doing them well takes curiosity and practice.
We can meet you where you're at, listen without judgement, and give you some practical real-world advice to get you started or back on track.
