Alfred Health
Designing the future of mental and addiction health using participatory strategy
We partnered with Alfred Mental & Addiction Health (AMAH) to design a transformation strategy for AMAH’s future, using participatory methods with staff and people with lived experience.
- A co-created strategic document endorsed by AMAH leadership and people with lived experience of mental and addiction health challenges
- A strategic direction statement that drives AMAH transformation by articulating AMAH aspirations, values and priorities
- An actionable transformation strategy that articulates targeted opportunity spaces and associated priority action areas
- Alignment of the transformation strategy with organisational and Royal Commission aspirations and requirements
- Articulation of the principles and strengths that underpin the direction statement and transformation strategy
Services
- Capability evaluation and strategy
- Strategic design
- Co-design
- Organisational design
Sectors
Guiding AMAH through a significant transformation
Alfred Health’s Addiction and Mental Health program (AMAH) is one of the sector’s leading service providers. AMAH is embarking on a long-term change process to improve and innovate the delivery of mental health and well-being care. As part of this process, AMAH is responding to a range of complex influences, including the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, broader public health sector transformation and exponential growth in the demand for mental health services. This project continues the transformation that was already underway within the program.
We crafted a strategic narrative that positioned AMAH as part of the broader mental health and wellbeing service system.
A collaborative approach to strategy design
AMAH engaged us to facilitate a participatory process to develop a shared understanding of where AMAH is going, its current strengths, targeted opportunity spaces and priority action areas. The outcome was a co-created, inspirational and actionable transformation strategy that articulates AMAH's future and its capacity to drive innovation for mental and addiction health.
We collaborated with 73 participants including people from AMAH’s Lived Experience program, clinical staff from various Alfred Health departments, Alfred Health executives and some external community partners, making this Strategic Direction of Alfred Mental & Addiction Health an artefact of collective discussion, consensus and meaning.
Connecting the dots and communicating AMAHs relationship with these diverse environments and influences helped inspire workshop participants to share big and bold ideas about AMAHs future.
Engagement from multiple perspectives
Programs across AMAH were working in disparate ways, some had conducted their research and others had developed their department-level visions. Because of this, a key starting point for us was to identify and build on synergies across different program areas to ensure efficiencies and program integration. We used this foundational work to develop strategy prototypes that were refined and iterated via multiple perspectives and levels of staff. Our approach balanced the opinions of senior executives through to clinical and lived experience staff and partner organisations through a series of five cascading workshops and 18 interviews.
A clear and cohesive 3-5 year direction
We designed the strategic framework to weave together AMAH’s direction statement, strengths, opportunity spaces and principles to create a clear and cohesive path forward. The outcomes communicate a strategic direction for AMAH’s future that represents and unites a variety of diverse programs and perspectives. The direction supports AMAH’s workforce to be their best and builds AMAH’s capacity to innovate and improve treatment, care and support for a spectrum of diverse and complex needs.
A framework for a clear and cohesive future direction.
A co-created framework with shared ownership
By using participatory methods to design the strategy with different perspectives, we supported AMAH to connect the dots and communicate their relationship with several influences. The process helped inspire workshop participants to share big and bold ideas about AMAH’s future. It also ensured that the transformation strategy reflects the ecosystem in which AMAH operates.
By establishing a clear and actionable path forward that has widespread ownership, AMAH can progress more confidently from strategy to action. With a shared direction, AMAH can also continue through this period of significant transformation as an aligned and coordinated program, whilst remaining responsive to changing needs in the community.
