Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit develops students’ capability to engage in co-design with consumers, carers and communities. Moving beyond individual-level mental health practice, the unit examines what authentic co-design involves when people with lived experience and community stakeholders are engaged as partners from the outset to define what matters, set priorities and shape solutions. Co-design is considered across four connected contexts: mental health services, research, education and ongoing workforce development, and community-level mental health promotion. The unit explores principles, practices and relational conditions required for genuine co-design, including common purpose and transparency; power-sharing and governance; valuing lived experience, practice and community expertise; inclusive participatory methods; and relational conditions such as trust and psychological safety, respectful communication and humility, reciprocity and reflexivity. Learning activities build capability in scoping a co-design challenge; identifying and engaging stakeholders; selecting inclusive collaboration methods; and translating shared priorities into feasible, strengths-based proposals that draw on lived expertise and community resources. Students also consider evidence and evaluation approaches to assess co-design quality, impact and sustainability.
The overarching aim of this unit is to enable students to participate genuinely, effectively and ethically in co-design partnerships with consumers, carers and communities to strengthen mental health services, research, education and community initiatives.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Analyse core concepts and principles of genuine co...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically evaluate the quality and ethical integr...
Learning Outcome 02
Apply co-design principles to scope mental health ...
Learning Outcome 03
Design feasible co-design initiatives that integra...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Foundations of genuine co-design in mental health
- Co-design: definitions and distinctions
- Co-design across service, research, education/workforce and community contexts
- Common purpose and transparency (scope, constraints, influence and accountability)
- Power-sharing and governance (roles, representation and decision-making)
- Lived experience, carer and community knowledge as forms of expertise
- Inclusive participatory methods
- Understanding co-design fatigue
- Relational conditions (trust, psychological safety, respectful communication, humility, reciprocity and reflexivity)
Co-scoping and stakeholder engagement
- Framing a co-design challenge and defining success
- Stakeholder identification and mapping (interests, influence, decision authority)
- Engagement and recruitment approaches
- Enablers for participation
Co-design methods and facilitation
- Participatory methods and inclusive facilitation approaches
- Managing group dynamics, disagreement and power in collaborative settings
- Communication practices that support transparency and shared understanding
Translating priorities into feasible, strengths-based proposals
- Converting co-design challenges into action
- Feasibility, resourcing and implementation constraints
- Implementation planning
Co-evaluation and evidence-informed learning
- Co-evaluation planning (questions, indicators and data sources)
- Assessing co-design quality, impact and sustainability
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass this unit, students must attempt and submit both assessment tasks, demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, and obtain a minimum mark of 50%.
The assessment strategy uses two authentic, scaffolded tasks that progressively develop knowledge and skills in co-design, supporting learning as well as providing opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. Assessment 1 (Critical analysis) develops and assesses students’ understanding of core concepts and principles of genuine co-design (LO1) and their ability to evaluate the quality and ethical integrity of co-design examples using structured criteria (LO2, LO3, LO4). Assessment Task 2 (Co-design proposal) requires students to apply co-design principles to a scenario by scoping a co-design challenge and identifying stakeholders, participation supports and governance arrangements (LO1, LO2, LO3), and to design a feasible co-design initiative plan that integrates implementation considerations and an evidence-informed approach to co-evaluating quality, impact and sustainability (LO4).
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Critical analysis Stude...
Assessment Task 1: Critical analysis
Students critique a co-design approach used in a mental health service, research, education/ workforce development or community mental health promotion context.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Co-design proposal Stu...
Assessment Task 2: Co-design proposal
Students develop a feasible, strengths-based proposal for a co-design initiative in response to a scenario.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Learning and teaching strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit, as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to co-design in mental health. Delivered as fully online, asynchronous learning allows students to learn at their own pace within the parameters of the teaching term. Weekly modules are structured around an inquiry cycle (engage, explore, apply and reflect) that guides students from key concepts and evidence to analysis of authentic scenarios. Learning is further supported through facilitated asynchronous discussion forums, weekly online drop-in sessions, and an online assessment session for each assessment task with the unit's online facilitator. The discussion forums provide students with activities that encourage students to critically discuss concepts, share practice-based examples (including from their own professional contexts), and provide constructive peer feedback. These activities are designed to build a learning community and deepen critical reflection in a supported online environment. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.