Head 2 Health: NQPHN and CHHHS Codesign workshop in Cairns

Gill Townsend joined NQPHN and CHHHS in a co-design workshop to discuss how to design a service for Head 2 Health mental health services that is easily accessible and meets community needs.

There were cars, horses, cats, gyms, libraries, planes, trains, green trees and a unicorn or two all in the creative mix at the Head 2 Health consultation and co-design workshop in Cairns this week.

There was wonderful energy and facilitation using a Human-Centered Design (co-design) approach, which set the scene for something more than “business as usual”.

Life Promotion and Suicide Prevention FNQ Manager Gill Townsend found it was a wonderful way to connect with old friends and colleagues and expand networks to create fresh and innovative approaches to suicide prevention.

Outside-of-the-box thinking literally gave way to flexible, agile descriptions and representations of potential service design. Some of the issues on the table were how we might best design a service together that both meets community needs and offers the best access possible. Specifically, the challenge of access and information, recognising that many current systems are complex to manage and understand.

The environment of the workshop also allowed opportunities for challenging conversations to emerge. For example, how we think about risk and recognise that there will be many different understandings of what risk is within different groups.

Design tables also identified potential ways to manage the inherent power imbalances that exist within some frameworks of service provision and law, including the perennial question “Who's recovery plan is it?”. There is still much work to do in checking value bases and shared understandings.

L-R: Gill (Life Promotion FNQ), Suzanne Riach (Queensland Health).

Overall philosophy and principles were identified as essential to the task of building something new and accessible to the community. How services view the person who is seeking help, how that help is offered and how the person might lead or be involved in the design of the help offered, will be key questions to ask in the creation and success of an accessible service. These are the issues that absolutely align with recurring challenges expressed in suicide prevention.

However, we have hope that we can collectively make a difference both systemically and individually.

It was a great coming together and we look forward to seeing how Head 2 Health develops in the Cairns and Hinterland region.

Great work North Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) and the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital Health Service (CHHHS)!