Alternatives to Emergency Departments: Roses in the Ocean
Status: Completed mid-2021
Client: Roses in the Ocean
Partners: New South Wales Ministry of Health
Background
As part of the NSW Ministry of Health’s Towards Zero Suicides initiatives, 20 new Alternatives to EDs / Safe Spaces services were established in each of the local health districts (LHDs) across NSW.
The MoH developed statewide requirements to guide the development and implementation of Safe Space services, which included a requirement to undertake a local co-design process to ensure each service met the needs of local communities.
The MoH engaged Roses in the Ocean (RITO), a leading organisation for lived experience in suicide prevention in Australia, to lead a co-design process for each new Safe Space.
Beacon Strategies supported the Roses in the Ocean team and LHDs throughout the process with collating and theming co-design outputs and providing tailored support for each LHD to assist with service implementation.
Approach
Beacon Strategies supported RITO’s facilitation teams to develop co-design products and outputs throughout the co-design process, and supported individual LHDs with taking the outputs of the co-design process and planning for service implementation.
Our role involved:
Working with Roses in the Ocean facilitators to plan for co-design sessions.
Meeting with co-design groups, and listening to and capturing their experiences.
Preparing slide decks and feedback loop surveys.
Providing advice and developing reports/documentation to assist and boost the capacity of LHDs to establish the service in line with the co-design findings.
Impact
This project aligned with our vision for a more impactful community sector. The use of co-design meant that the community could feel ownership towards the developed safe spaces, as well as having a space that met the specific needs of the community.
The overall approach and collaborative nature of the project would have significant positive implications for the development of accessible, community-driven, and evidence-informed mental health services that better meet the needs of local populations.
Outcome
The final report (below) was designed and highlighted key areas for the creation of safe spaces:
The needs of people seeking support when experiencing a suicidal crisis ( and the needs of health care workers)
The seven key components of a safe space model
The key outcomes of safe spaces and specific scenario examples
Areas for further exploration
The findings were presented in the structure through which they were captured during the co-design processes led by Roses in the Ocean.
These findings can be helpful as a foundation and starting point to generalise for the broader development of Safe Space services, but can also be built on or challenged to meet the needs and aspirations of local communities or in other contexts.
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