In April 2021, the South West Sydney Primary Health Network commissioned The Peregrine Centre, along with Beacon Strategies, to undertake a codesign process to commence their 12 month initiative to improve mental health literacy in their area. In this project we were proud to work with our good friends at Troubled Dog and co-facilitate with Lived Experience Advocate, Carrie Lumby.

The South West Sydney area is a richly diverse location with a wide range of language groups and demographics. Through a series of 3 workshops with lived experience representatives and frontline workers, we clarified the challenges of improving mental health literacy in the local area, including the challenge of expanding the definition of mental health. It was really wonderful to hear from such a diverse range of lived experience, from living in the rural regions of Wingecaribee to being part of Sydney’s Vietnamese community, everyone’s story contained a wealth of valuable insights.

After the workshops, we worked with Beacon Strategies to summarise the findings in an online webinar, available to an even wider cross section of stakeholders. They could then contribute their views via an online survey. The community insights were then analysed and presented with a range of suggested solutions back to the South West Sydney Primary Health Network. This is a great example of how The Peregrine Centre can convene safe and powerful participatory events, where the voices of service users and their carers can be heard and the combined with the wisdom of those working on the frontlines.

If you think Codesign could help your organisation and would like the clinical qualified facilitation of The Peregrine Centre team, please reach out through the Contact the Peregrine Centre page on this website.