What is the Co-creating Safe Spaces project?
‘Co-Creating Safe Spaces’ is national research project looking at safe spaces for people experiencing emotional distress. The project is run by a team of researchers from both academic and non-research backgrounds, working with health and community service professionals, peer workers, and lived experience advocates.
The project is led by the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research. Our partners include Roses in the Ocean, Black Dog Institute, Macquarie University, the University of Wollongong, and the steering committees implementing the six safe spaces in the research project.1
What is co-created research?
Co-creation is an approach that emphasises power-sharing, collaboration, and research engagement. It aligns researcher aims and priorities with those of research end-users including people with lived experience.
Co-creation is core to the safe spaces, as well as to their evaluation in this project. Safe spaces have been co-designed, and are implemented by people with lived experience.
Many of the researchers on the project also identify as having a lived experience of mental health issues, emotional distress, and/or suicidal crisis. which we use in our research.
‘Co-Creating Safe Spaces’ is funded by an Australian Government Department of Health National Suicide Prevention Research Fund Targeted Research Grant managed by Suicide Prevention Australia.
We adopt a community-led approach to lived experience that emphasises choice and self-identification. We are guided by the ways communities think about and use different aspects of lived experience knowledge and practice. |
What will the Co-Creating Safe Spaces project do?
Our main aims are to:
- Find out if safe spaces work for people in distress and/or suicidal crisis
- Work with safe space guests, peer workers and communities on how to measure what safe spaces do for people, and for the system
- Explore safe space co-design processes and how models are put into practice
- Look at the future of safe spaces as a key part of our system.
Want to know more?
We will add more to our website soon. If you have questions, please email us at safespaces@anu.edu.au
1‘Co-Creating Safe Spaces’ is funded by an Australian Government Department of Health National Suicide Prevention Research Fund Targeted Research Grant managed by Suicide Prevention Australia.