The concise workbook provided a practical, step-by-step approach that participants found accessible and meaningful. Participants who were new to research — including Lived Experience staff, honours students and service workers — reported that the structured approach gave them greater confidence that they could learn research skills and complete their projects. Many preferred the concise workbook for everyday use, while the full toolkit and workbook provided important background context.
Working it out together: Phase 3 Report – A brief pilot of the research toolkit and concise workbook
Overview
This Phase 3 Report documents the findings from a brief pilot of the concise workbook, a streamlined companion to the full "Working it out together" toolkit and workbook for Lived Experience-centred mental health and wellbeing research practice. The pilot was conducted across five research projects at Wellways Australia between April and June 2025, and explores the impact, experience and satisfaction of participants using the concise workbook exercises. It includes six key recommendations to guide the future development and implementation of the concise workbook, and broader opportunities for Lived Experience-centred research mentoring, skill development and dissemination. This report is the third in a program of research that also includes a scoping review (Phase 1) and the full toolkit, workbook and report (Phase 2).
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Key insights
This Phase 3 Report evaluates a brief pilot of the concise workbook from the "Working it out together" program of research. It finds that the workbook is effective and accessible for people new to Lived Experience-centred research, but that its impact is significantly greater when paired with tailored mentoring and research skill development. The pilot confirms the value of Lived Experience-led research and identifies structural and practical improvements to strengthen the concise workbook and support broader implementation.
The greatest impact from the pilot came not from the concise workbook alone, but from combining it with research mentoring (one-on-one and group) and research skills workshops delivered by a Lived Experience researcher. Three workshops were provided covering grey literature searching, peer reviewed literature searching, and synthesising literature. Without this accompanying support, the workbook's impact was limited, particularly for Lived Experience participants integrating their discipline perspective with research skills for the first time.
Research projects that engaged people with Lived Experience from conception produced more meaningful, collaborative and ownership-driven outcomes than those that brought Lived Experience involvement in at a later stage.
A recurring theme across all pilot projects was that research teams frequently do not consider Lived Experience involvement until a project is already underway. The workbook exercises explicitly challenged researchers to centre Lived Experience from the very beginning — including clarifying what type of Lived Experience was relevant to the project, identifying which voices might be missing, and ensuring the research question was validated as important to the community it concerned. This early framing was described as a game-changer for team culture and project direction.
Participants — particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and emerging researchers — required clearer signposting, digital links and visual markers to move between the concise workbook and the full toolkit.
The pilot identified that readers frequently moved between the full toolkit and the concise workbook to access context and definitions. Without clear navigation pathways between the two documents, this was difficult to do efficiently — particularly for those for whom English is a second language. Participants recommended digital hyperlinks, pop-out boxes and visual markers to improve ease of use. The concise workbook should also include prompts that explicitly encourage flexible use, making clear that teams do not need to complete every exercise or follow a strictly linear sequence.
Participants valued that the workbook explicitly named and defined Lived Experience practices, values and terminology that are often assumed or passed over in research settings.
Both Lived Experience and non-Lived Experience participants found that the workbook's inclusion of key concepts — such as the Lived Experience Intention and Impact Statement, definitions of designated Lived Experience roles, and the spectrum of Lived Experience — provided clarity and a shared starting point. This was especially valuable when working with teams that included people from different professional, personal and cultural backgrounds. The definitions were described as tangible, strengths-focused and grounded in real-world application.
Engagement of organisational leaders in workbook exercises produced meaningful personal realisations about the value of Lived Experience perspectives, and demonstrated the toolkit's potential to drive cultural change beyond research teams.
Feedback from Wellways' Executive Sponsor highlighted that the workbook exercises — particularly the Lived Experience Intention and Impact Statement — prompted genuine reflection about organisational values and the practical steps needed to embed them. This confirmed that the toolkit is not only a research tool but a vehicle for broader organisational and cultural transformation, with potential applicability to service design, delivery and management.
Feedback from across the pilot — including from the CEOs of the Collaborative Centre, a Lived Experience leader, and intersectional experts — highlighted that the program's key concepts, definitions and ways of working are important across the broader mental health ecosystem, including service design, delivery, management and practice. A co-created 12-month to 5-year implementation plan was recommended to support public launch, dissemination, and connection with university, state and national grant bodies.
Across multiple projects, the Lived Experience Intention and Impact Statement (Workbook Exercise 1/Action 1) was consistently identified as one of the most valuable tools. It helped project teams clarify key concepts, identify whose voices were missing, and ensure research design genuinely centred the needs and priorities of those most impacted. It was described as setting the tone for the rest of the research process and supporting teams to move from assumption-based practice to intentional, purposeful inquiry.
Participants identified that efficient signposting and digital links between the concise workbook and the full toolkit/workbook are essential, particularly for people who speak English as a second language or are new to research. Feedback also recommended reordering the research stages: several Actions from Stage One (Connect and Identify) should be moved into Stage Two (Power and Decision-Making) to more accurately reflect how Lived Experience expertise, intersectionality, accessibility and team wellbeing are intrinsic to power-sharing rather than preliminary steps.
Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?
Yes — The program of research was explicitly Lived Experience-led. People with lived and living experience of mental ill-health and psychological distress — including consumers, family carers, supporters and kin — were active leaders and contributors throughout all phases of the pilot. The project team included consumer, family/carer/supporter/kin, First Nations, LGBTIQA+SB, disability and CALD expertise. The project lead, Dr Catherine Brasier, is a Consumer Academic. Lived Experience participants drove the design, delivery, data collection and feedback processes for the concise workbook.
Yes — The pilot engaged service leaders, practitioners and organisational leaders from Wellways Australia, including the Director of Lived Experience, Director of Business Development, Operations Manager and Coproduction and Engagement Lead. Their practical expertise in service delivery and mental health practice informed how the toolkit was applied, refined and recommended for broader implementation. Service-based teams provided practice-grounded perspectives on the toolkit's applicability to real-world settings, including at the point of service delivery and organisational strategy development.
Yes — This report is itself an evaluation of the pilot. Data collection methods included collaborative feedback logs, semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews. Findings were synthesised by the project lead and reviewed through member checking with participants. The report builds on Phase 1 (a rapid scoping review, n=81 publications; n=23 consultations) and Phase 2 (toolkit and workbook development with an Expert Advisory Group of 25 members), grounding the evaluation in a broader program of evidence.
How can this resource help me as a...?
This report provides evaluation findings and practical recommendations for researchers seeking to embed Lived Experience leadership across the research life cycle, and evidences the effectiveness of this approach.
This report is directly relevant to those in designated Lived Experience roles who are new to or building their engagement with research. The pilot found the workbook builds research confidence and capability in Lived Experience workers.
This report demonstrates how Lived Experience-centred research places consumers at the centre of mental health research design, delivery and evaluation — and provides evidence that this approach leads to meaningful, high-quality outcomes.
Carers and family members are recognised throughout this report as active contributors to Lived Experience-centred research. The program specifically considered dual consumer/carer perspectives and intersectional expertise.
Practitioners working in mental health services will find this report relevant to understanding how Lived Experience-centred research methods can improve real-world service outcomes and embed Lived Experience leadership in research and evaluation.
Service leaders and organisational directors will find value in the report's findings about embedding Lived Experience-centred research culture, particularly the role of executive leadership in championing and modelling this approach.
This report supports the case for resourcing and commissioning Lived Experience-centred research, consistent with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.
