Working it out together: A concise workbook for Lived Experience-centred mental health research

Overview

This concise workbook brings together the core exercises from the full "Working it out together" toolkit and workbook for Lived Experience-centred mental health and wellbeing research practice. It provides a structured, streamlined resource for researchers and people with Lived Experience to work through together across six stages of the research life cycle: connect and identify, power and decision-making, method, collect, analyse, and share. The workbook covers 17 practical actions — from forming a Lived Experience-centred research team and embedding inclusive and intersectional approaches, through to designing data collection and analysis plans, creating dissemination strategies, and reporting research in a Lived Experience-centred way. It includes a Lived Experience Action Log for tracking contributions and accountability, and Lived Experience-centred research reporting guidelines in the appendix. The workbook is designed to be used flexibly and adapted to each unique project, and is part of a broader suite of resources that includes the full toolkit, workbook and research reports.

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Developed by Wellways Australia for the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, with academic collaboration from La Trobe University

Individual authors

Brasier, C., Kolovos, D., Scott, A., Lyall, C., Conlon, A., Jonas, R., Lalic, J.L., Little, J., Schirmer, J., Trewin, R., Joseph, C., Zirnsak, T. and the Collaborative Centre team.

Key insights

The concise workbook distils the core principles and practical exercises for embedding Lived Experience-centred research across all stages of the research life cycle. It emphasises that people with Lived Experience must lead and shape research from the outset, and that achieving this requires deliberate planning, transparent power-sharing, inclusive practices, and structured accountability at every stage of a project.

People with Lived Experience should lead and shape research from the beginning. The workbook structures this through 17 defined actions across seven research stages — from identifying the research question and forming the team, through to dissemination and impact evaluation. This positions Lived Experience contribution as a core methodological commitment, not an add-on, and includes tools to track and evaluate the depth of that integration throughout the project.

Research teams must explicitly plan how power is shared and decisions are made, accounting for historical and current power imbalances related to Lived Experience, professional roles, gender, seniority, First Nations identity, cultural and language diversity, and disability. The workbook provides structured exercises and the Lived Experience Action Log to make these processes transparent and traceable, with accountability mechanisms built into governance and meeting processes.

The workbook includes a dedicated action to create a mental health and wellbeing plan for the whole research team — not only for research participants. This encompasses psychological safety, mental health supports, Lived Experience-specific peer support, cultural integrity practices, and accessibility and practical supports. This reflects the understanding that researchers with Lived Experience may require tailored support when engaging with sensitive or personally resonant material.

Every stage of the research life cycle requires active consideration of intersectionality — including First Nations perspectives, cultural and linguistic diversity, neurodiversity, and disability. The workbook expects research teams to explicitly map these perspectives, include relevant expertise on their teams, and plan for accessibility and cultural integrity across all project activities and communications.

The appendix reporting guidelines require researchers to demonstrate — across the title, abstract, methodology, results and conclusions of their research outputs — how people with Lived Experience were engaged as leaders throughout the project. This positions Lived Experience-centred reporting as an integral quality standard alongside traditional methodological rigour, applicable to published papers, reports and grant applications.

The workbook includes explicit planning for how research findings will be shared with participants, communities (including First Nations and intersectional communities), peer workers and front-line staff, and the broader mental health sector. Dissemination is treated as a Lived Experience responsibility, with plain language, open access publication, and multimedia and creative outputs identified as important means of sharing knowledge in ways that are meaningful and accessible to those most affected.

Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?

Yes — the workbook draws on experiential expertise. The workbook was developed by a team that includes Lived Experience designated roles — including Consumer Academic and Project Lead Dr Catherine Brasier, Lived Experience Research Assistants, and the Lived Experience Co-production and Engagement Lead — as well as the perspectives of families, carers, supporters and kin. The frameworks, definitions, language, exercises and tools throughout the workbook reflect Lived Experience values, priorities and practices, shaped through Expert Advisory Group consultation and an Expert Taskforce with consumers and carers.

Yes — the workbook draws on practice wisdom. Team members from Wellways Australia, including the Practice Advisor Families and Carers, Policy Advisor, After Suicide Support Worker, Implementation Lead and Reconciliation Action Plan Officer, contributed practice-informed perspectives drawn from mental health service delivery, co-production, engagement and workforce contexts. This practice wisdom is embedded in the design of the exercises, tools and guidance throughout the workbook.

Yes — the workbook draws on research and evaluation insights. The workbook is grounded in Wellways Australia's "Six Steps of the Research Life Cycle" model and the broader Working it out together program of research, which includes a scoping review (Phase 1) and the full toolkit, workbook and research report (Phase 2). The concise workbook includes an evaluation framework (Table 2) for tracking and reporting the impact of Lived Experience integration, and a research reporting guideline structured as a supplementary checklist aligned to peer-reviewed research reporting standards.

How can this resource help me as a...?

Toggle audience types below to explore.

The primary audience. The workbook provides a comprehensive set of structured exercises and planning tools to guide researchers through embedding Lived Experience at every stage of a research project — from identifying the research question and forming the team, through to data collection, analysis, dissemination and impact evaluation.

Mental health practitioners involved in or supporting research or evaluation projects will find the workbook a practical guide to integrating Lived Experience perspectives meaningfully into practice-based research and service evaluation activities.

Leaders and managers overseeing or commissioning research can use the workbook to understand what authentic Lived Experience-centred research requires in terms of team structures, power-sharing, governance and accountability, and to assess the quality of Lived Experience integration in their organisation's research activities.

Family, carer, supporter and kin Lived Experience perspectives are explicitly embedded throughout the workbook as a core component of Lived Experience. The tools support their meaningful inclusion in research teams, governance processes and dissemination activities.

People with Lived Experience of mental health challenges are positioned as leaders and co-creators in research throughout the workbook. Its exercises support consumers to understand and advocate for their role in research, and help research teams to meaningfully and respectfully include consumer expertise.

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Did the concise workbook work? Read the pilot findings from five real research projects and explore six recommendations to strengthen Lived Experience-centred research, mentoring and implementation.

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This report explores how organisations can support people with lived and living experience to lead, create and share research.

Published 26th August 2024

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See all resources

Resources

Working it out together: A concise workbook for Lived Experience-centred mental health research

Overview

Key insights

Lived Experience as a structured research approach, not a consultation step

Power and decision-making must be intentionally designed and documented

Wellbeing of research team members is a research responsibility

Intersectional and inclusive approaches must be embedded, not assumed

Lived Experience-centred reporting is a standard of research rigour

Research must be designed to reach and respect its communities

Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?

Experiential expertise

Practice wisdom

Research and evaluation insights

How can this resource help me as a...?

Feedback

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Related resources

Working it out together: Phase 3 Report

Lived Experience Scoping Review

Working it out together Toolkit