Cultural safety expert Ruth De Souza partnered with strategic design consultancy Paper Giant in 2019 to co-create a cultural safety strategy for cohealth. As a large not-for-profit community health organisation, cohealth recognised that cultural safety is both a way of working in health and an outcome of good care. They engaged Ruth De Souza to undertake a systematic analysis of internal practices that contribute to best practice in healthcare. After 18 months of research, Ruth approached my colleagues and I to creatively engage staff from across cohealth, in order to share research findings and align around a clear vision for the future of cultural safety at this large organisation. 

We designed and facilitated extensive board and staff engagement on the cultural safety strategy. A poster exhibition and walkthrough presentations at 10 different sites showcased key findings from the research and analysis undertaken in 2017–19. After collating feedback from approximately 120 exhibition attendees, we facilitated a co-design workshop with a diverse group of 22 people from across cohealth. Workshop participants shared their experience and ideas to create strategies and recommendations on embedding cultural safety within cohealth. The priorities identified by participants, complemented by strategic examples shared by our project team, were presented to cohealth leadership and the board to begin implementing in mid-2019.

Images courtesy of cohealth.

"Beautiful, clever. I love it."

— CEO of cohealth on seeing the visual diagram and clear priorities for how the organisation can co-create a culturally safe environment.