Co-Designing Mental Health Solutions in Katherine

YLab partnered with Dolly’s Dream and the Y Northern Territory to co-design solutions for mental ill-health and suicide in Katherine communities.

THE CHALLENGE

Dolly’s Dream and The Y Northern Territory teamed up to develop three community initiatives to tackle ill-mental health and suicide in Katherine, with potential to scale these initiatives to other rural communities.

They reached out to YLab for our expertise in lived-experience co-design and youth engagement. Our partners emphasised the need for an intergenerational community approach, wanting to bring young people aged 14–22 and wider community members who were passionate about youth mental health.

WHAT WE DID

Prior to travelling to Katherine, a Community Reference Group provided guidance and insight into the unique characteristics of the Katherine community. We embedded community-strengths through the insights provided by our reference group which helped fortify the prototypes developed.

YLab developed three co-design workshops delivered over three days at the YMCA sports centre in Katherine. We identified six key themes that contributed to ill-mental health in Katherine in the initial workshop. We took three of these themes and developed three prototype initiatives for Dolly’s Dream and The Y NT to develop and implement.

THE IMPACT

The three key prototypes developed with the community are now being scaled for impact by Dolly’s Dream. In partnership with The Y NT, Dolly’s Dream has launched a Friday Night Youth Development Drop-In Program in Katherine. Launching in Term 1 2024, the program will include a range of activities such as sport, art, drama and music workshops as well as mental health support through yoga, meditation, mindfulness and anti-bullying education. The program aims to strengthen young people’s mental health and support networks through activities that build confidence, foster team-building and allow for self-expression.

o-design participant