CO-DESIGN

What is Co-Design?

At the most basic level, co-design is an innovative and collaborative method used to research, ideate, prototype, create, and evaluate solutions to specific problems that enacts change through actively engaging multiple stakeholders with a variety of lived experience and expertise. It is based on the idea that people with lived experience of mental health and substance use disorders are experts in their own care and can provide valuable insights into what services are needed and how they can best be delivered.

Traditionally, individuals with academic expertise often take lead on decisions when it came to many different group collaborations, projects, policies, and initiatives. However, within the method of co-design, these roles are diminished, allowing equalization amongst all individuals – irrelevant of academic merit

Lastly, and most importantly - Co design is about designing with, not for; which aids in the decentralization of decision making and facilitates transformation.

Why use Co-Design?

Through the use of co-design, organizations, and or designers are able to foster professional development, in that everyone will have something to learn and something to teach. Co-design improves systems and services, the delivery of care and access to services, while increasing feelings of empathy and sense of belonging. Through use of co-design, you can reach a level where services are refined to meet the needs of the target audience, which would naturally result in higher attrition rates, added value to the output and lastly but most importantly, you will obtain real solutions to real problems.

The goal of co-design is to create solutions that are more responsive to the needs and desires of end-users, that are more effective in addressing their problems or needs, and that are more sustainable and feasible in the long run.