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Lived Experience Engagement and Participation - An Environmental Scan

Overview

This 2024 environmental scan examines lived experience engagement in public sector policymaking, particularly mental health contexts. It reviews current approaches, frameworks, and mechanisms through desktop research and expert consultation, identifying challenges like inadequate capabilities, unclear purposes, and institutional resistance while recommending foundational steps for building effective participatory capacity.

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Developed by The National Mental Health Commission

Key insights

 Key Insights:

  1. Participatory policymaking represents paradigm shift valuing lived experience alongside traditional expertise

  2. Three disciplinary fields converge: public participation, co-design/co-production, user/consumer engagement approaches

  3. Goals vary: learning better outcomes, legitimizing processes, recognizing rights of affected

  4. Limited evidence demonstrates participation improves policy outcomes despite widespread claims benefits

  5. Mental health engagement is a distinct form requiring shared power and decision-making beyond consultation

  6. Existing frameworks emphasize generic principles lacking practical guidance for public policy professionals

Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?

<p>This paper incorporated experiential expertise through external consultation with 12 professionals including lived experience advocates/experts (3), public sector professionals (5), and government consultants (4). These consultations validated desktop review findings and provided insights on challenges, emerging practices, and recommendations. The consultation group offered diverse perspectives from those who participate in, design, and facilitate participatory processes in government settings, ensuring findings reflected real-world practice experiences.</p>
<p>This paper drew on practice wisdom through consultation with professionals holding "practice-based knowledge of and skills in designing and facilitating participatory processes." The external consultation validated desktop findings with real-world insights from practitioners who had direct experience administering participatory processes in government. The paper emphasizes the importance of technical experts with practice-based expertise and highlights the need to learn from public sector professionals who have evolved their understanding through working with external experts.</p>
<p>This paper was based on a systematic desktop review of 43 academic and grey literature sources published 2014-2024, plus 13 public sector frameworks across Commonwealth and jurisdictional governments. The review identified limited summative evaluation of participatory frameworks&#39; impact, noting widespread lack of evidence demonstrating participation improves policy outcomes. The paper highlighted needs for robust monitoring, evaluation methods, and practice-based evidence to assess effectiveness and build public sector capability.</p>

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Engagement & Participation Tool