Improving access to primary health care for multicultural communities was the focus of the North West Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) community panel. Supported by an innovative AI tool, the panel developed practical recommendations and funding ideas for NWMPHN’s federal submission. This process highlighted the importance of genuine community involvement and continues to inform NWMPHN’s place-based health initiatives, showing that addressing barriers to care requires more than policy.
MosaicLab and Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation co-designed a Code of Conduct training that brought values to life. Over a day and a half, staff explored ethics and workplace behaviour through real-life scenarios, cultural storytelling, and hands-on activities - then shaped the Code in their own words, images, and symbols. The process built clarity, connection, and confidence - and ensured the team has a Code that’s lived, not just learned.
We don’t just facilitate conversations - we design them with purpose, strategy, and care. In under three minutes, our new video lifts the lid on what really happens behind the scenes at MosaicLab. It’s not just about what we do, but how and why we do it - and what makes our work different. Come take a look - this time, we’re the story.
Have a challenging issue to tackle but lack the resources for meaningful engagement? ML Giving is MosaicLab’s not-for-profit division and we’re here to help. We support emerging and under-served communities in fostering deeper conversations that drive real change. We believe everyone deserves a voice in shaping their communities. Learn how you can apply to work with us.
How do you bring stakeholders from across Australia together to shift how spiritual health is embedded in our healthcare system? MosaicLab partnered with the Spiritual Health Association to design and facilitate an engagement process that helped shape the country’s first National Model for Spiritual Care in Health. The model was piloted in 21 hospitals and health services, including a national health service. After the pilot, sites conducted audits to assess its impact on spiritual care, staff awareness, and patient experiences. The results were published in an evaluation report released in late 2024, offering key insights from this national initiative.
Late last year we published the first post in a two-part series on dealing with this ‘subscriber dilemma’. In part one we explored how to plan for conflict, outrage and emotion when you know it’s likely to arise. Today, in part two, we’re providing 10 tips for working with high emotion in the moment – when you didn’t expect or plan for it at all.
Deliberative democracy isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ type of deal. Deliberative processes can come in multiple packages, and deliberative elements can be integrated into a range of different engagement approaches. However, a truly deliberative process is built around some simple core principles, and it’s risky to call a process ‘deliberation’ if it doesn’t truly hit the mark.
So, what are the principles of deliberative democracy, and how would we know if a process wasn’t truly deliberative?
We love connecting with people across the industry, sharing knowledge and supporting learning. So, when we heard that Dr. Brett Hennig (the Sortition Foundation) would be in Melbourne, we jumped at the chance to build an event around his visit. The result was a free Deliberation Innovation & Public Sector Engagement event, which incorporated both an afternoon of deliberation training for government and an evening of engaging conversation.
Join us in for a day of FREE training, learning, networking and sharing in Melbourne on 12 December.
We’re hosting a jam-packed two-part event: Deliberation 101 Training for Government , followed by an Engaging Evening of conversation with with Dr. Brett Hennig (the Sortition Foundation UK) and Louisa Curry (Local Government Victoria).
The event will explore an engagement dilemma facing the public sector - how to engage effectively against a backdrop of new expectations and requirements, including legislative reform. It’s an opportunity to learn from international and Australian experiences, and consider how your organisation could engage better in a changing world.
Registrations are now open and places are very limited, so be sure to secure your spot ASAP.
This post tackles a big, scary dilemma – conflict, outrage and emotion. We’re often asked for advice around this topic, because it’s something that worries many people in the engagement space - even experienced practitioners and facilitators.
Partly, this fear is underpinned by a lack of ‘tools’ or skills. So, we’re going to give you some tips to help you prepare for and/or work with conflict, outrage and emotion in a meaningful way.
Because it’s a big, difficult topic, we’re going to address it in two parts: Part one (this post) is about how to plan for it, and in part two (next month) we’ll talk about what to do if you walk into it unexpectedly.
Facilitators work across many industries, audiences and topics, and sometimes the issues or information being considered are complex or technical. We’re often asked how we manage to move across so many broad ranging issues and projects, and whether we need to become ‘experts’ in each topic before we facilitate.
This #MonthlyMyth explores some of the misunderstandings that sit behind this myth, highlights the true role of a facilitator, and uncovers how facilitators really work with information and content.
Deliberation can be refer to either a micro-process (something you can build into part of a session or engagement process) or a full deliberative democracy process (such as a citizens’ jury).
Deliberative engagement has a lot of potential benefits - these processes can lead to new solutions to challenging problems, improve policy outcomes and engender trust between citizens and decision makers.
So, is deliberation always the right answer/process? The short answer is no.
