Beacon Strategies

22/06/2026

🖍️ Co-Design in Practice

Doing co-design in healthcare? You’re not starting from scratch.

Across Australia — and beyond — health agencies have invested in practical co-design guides. These toolkits don’t just talk theory. They offer clear, adaptable steps for improving healthcare with patients, not just for them.

Here’s what’s already out there:
• National: AHHA’s EBCD toolkit uses real Australian case studies
• NSW: ACI’s toolkit outlines a four-stage approach with resources to match
• QLD: Clinical Excellence QLD shares frontline innovations (many grounded in co-design)
• VIC: The state-wide HCD Playbook includes practical co-design prompts
• Local: Metro North Health’s guide is detailed and locally grounded
• NZ: Waitematā DHB’s classic guide blends service improvement with strong co-design logic

These resources reflect a shared commitment: services work better when people who use them shape how they’re designed.

At Beacon, we draw on this growing library and apply it to real-world projects. It means we can skip the guesswork — and focus on delivering processes that are both rigorous and human.

Want to dig into the tools we trust?

Explore co-design in healthcare. We cover national and state frameworks, regional guidelines, and our perspective on designing healthcare solutions using co-design.

22/06/2026

Welcome to Hugh Fleming, who has joined Beacon Strategies as a Consultant.

Hugh brings experience in health management consulting, with a focus on implementation and evaluation across a range of policy and service delivery areas.

He has worked across areas including workforce, chronic conditions, disability and mental health, building a solid foundation in analysis and translating findings into practical insights.

Great to have you on the team, Hugh.

18/06/2026

Life Promotion & Su***de Prevention FNQ (an initiative of Beacon Strategies) had the privilege of hosting a conversation with Queensland Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic (Queensland Mental Health Commission) in Cairns this week.

A few things that really stuck:
— The scale is real. 769 Queenslanders lost to su***de in 2024.
— The impact doesn’t stop with one person, it ripples through families, friends and communities.
— This isn’t just a health issue. Housing, justice, education, community — it all matters.
— There’s a lot of good work already happening. It’s just not always connected.
— Leadership in this space is about lining things up, not just doing more in silos.

Phase Two of Every Life sharpens the focus — especially on people most impacted, lived experience, and approaches that sit outside the clinical system.

And a simple but important ‘gift’ from the Commissioner to everyone in the room: "be kind to yourself and give yourself some latitude in this work."

17/06/2026

Lived experience of su***de plays a critical role in shaping safer, more inclusive workplaces — influencing culture, policies and how organisations support people.

In partnership with Roses in the Ocean, Beacon Strategies has supported the development of the Lived Experience of Su***de Organisational Maturity Tool, now hosted by Roses in the Ocean.

The tool helps organisations understand how they are currently integrating lived experience perspectives, where they’re doing well, and where there are opportunities to strengthen.

- Takes 5–10 minutes to complete
- Free to use
- Instant results with a detailed report

A simple place to start for organisations looking to embed lived experience of su***de in a practical, meaningful way.

👉 Access the tool here

The purpose of our Lived Experience of Su***de Organisational Maturity Tool is to gauge the degree of meaningful integration of lived experience of su***de perspectives and expertise within your organisation or government department. It helps you identify areas where you are progressing well, and op...

16/06/2026

Meet Alex Janssan — Senior Consultant at Beacon Strategies

Alex works with governments and service providers to plan and improve services across complex health and social systems.

His work brings together evidence, stakeholder perspectives and practical insight to develop solutions that are clear, considered and grounded in real-world contexts.

From regional needs assessments through to national strategy work, Alex supports clients to navigate complexity and deliver meaningful outcomes.

Great to have you on the team, Alex.

https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0Zp9S0

15/06/2026

Most organisations say safety is a priority. Fewer can confidently say it’s built into how work actually happens.

Too often, safety is reduced to compliance — audits completed, incidents logged, policies followed. These matter, but they don’t tell you whether your system is working when it counts.

In practice, safety shows up in the small moments:
- a rushed handover
- a hesitation to speak up
- a concern that never quite makes it into a report

These aren’t failures of process. They’re signals about culture, connection and system design.

Strong clinical governance doesn’t eliminate risk — it surfaces it early, learns quickly and supports people to act with confidence. It makes reporting part of care, not a bureaucratic task.

The question isn’t whether you have the right policy. It’s whether safety is felt — in conversations, behaviours and decisions under pressure.

We’ve explored this further (along with practical actions) in our latest piece on rethinking safety in clinical governance.

This article is part of our Impact Governance series, exploring the core domains that shape how health service organisations maintain systems that deliver safe, effective, person-centred care. To support this work, we’ve developed an Impact Governance Self-Assessment Tool to help organisati

14/06/2026

Meet Gyongyi Horvath — Senior Consultant at Beacon Strategies

Gyongyi works with organisations across health and human services to design, evaluate and improve programs and systems. She brings together evaluation, co-design and stakeholder engagement to help organisations understand their impact and make informed decisions.

With experience across justice, mental health, education and disability, Gyongyi supports clients to navigate complexity and deliver better outcomes for communities.

Great to have you on the team, Gyongyi.

https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0Zpgy0

08/06/2026

🖍️ Co-Design in Practice

So… what exactly is co-design?

If you’ve been in the sector a while, you’ve probably heard the term used in all kinds of ways—sometimes to describe genuine collaboration, sometimes just consultation in disguise.

At Beacon, we think co-design is simple (but not always easy):
→ Work with the people who use a service to design something that works for them.
→ Then work with the people who fund and deliver it to make it happen.

That’s our starting point — but we’ve also taken the time to review what others say. When you cut through the jargon, co-design tends to include six common features:
• It applies widely – across sectors, programs, and policy
• It’s needs-driven – rooted in lived experience
• It includes diverse voices – especially those most affected
• It shares decision-making – not just feedback gathering
• It’s about shaping solutions – not just identifying problems
• It leads to implementation – ideas get tested and used

Understanding co-design means knowing what it is — and what it isn’t. That clarity helps set expectations and guides better practice.

To read more (including a breakdown of those six elements), head to

How do you define co-design when there are so many definitions? We go over the basic principles of co-design, common elements and definitions.

25/05/2026

🖍️ Co-Design in Practice

Thinking about co-design? Start by asking: is your organisation ready?

Delivering a meaningful co-design process isn’t just about technique—it’s about readiness. The best processes are backed by leadership support, strong relationships, fair resourcing, and a culture that values lived experience.

We often see organisations excited by the idea of co-design, but not always prepared to deliver it well.

Some helpful prompts:
- Are your leaders on board and visible?
- Do your frameworks support shared decision-making?
- Do staff have the time, skills and tools?
- Are people with lived experience involved from the start—and fairly compensated?

We’ve developed an Organisational Co-Design Readiness Tool to help you check where you’re at. It’s free, practical, and includes a personalised report. Try it here:

This blog outlines eight domains correlating to an organisation's readiness to complete an effective co-design process.

27/04/2026

🖍️ Co-Design in Practice

What actually happens in a co-design process?

Workshops might be the visible part of co-design — but the real work happens across six or seven phases.

At Beacon, we follow an adapted double diamond. It’s not a rigid sequence, but a useful way to plan, run, and reflect on co-design. Here’s how it plays out in practice:
- Manage – set things up well. This includes governance, comms, and a plan that’s flexible enough to change.
- Align – get across what’s already known. That means scanning the context and connecting with the right people early.
- Discover – explore the issues from different perspectives. Dig into people’s experiences, challenges and goals.
- Define – make sense of what you’ve heard. Turn it into clear problems and priorities.
- Develop – co-create possible solutions. Use visuals, artefacts or storyboards to test and refine ideas.
- Deliver – help teams get ready to implement. Sometimes that’s handover, sometimes it’s us sticking around to support the change.

(Optional extra: Evaluate and loop back!)

The process will shift depending on your purpose, timeline and scope. What matters most is staying adaptive, staying grounded in what people share — and bringing others along with you as things change.

Beneath a carefully planned and executed co-design session lies a purposeful process designed to achieve specific results. Follow this step-by-step guide to develop your own co-design process.