Royal Commission into Defence and
Veteran Suicide
Supporting the Department of Defence and the Department of Veteran Affairs to deliver 5 key recommendations from the RCDVS Interim Report.
Content warning: The following case study contains references to death, trauma and suicide.
The Solutions
A Comprehensive Communications Toolkit
A comprehensive Communications Toolkit inclusive of personas, communication principles and example communication artefacts - this was the project stream that I led and managed from initiation to delivery
Mid-Fidelity Designs for the Department of Defence Website
Mid-fidelity designs for the reworked information architecture and content for the Defence website
The Unique Problem to Solve
As a result of the staggering number of current and ex-serving Defence members were being lost due to suicide, an investigation by the established Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (RCDVS) was held. This inquiry lead to 13 interim recommendations addressed to the Department of Defence and the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) pertaining to Access to Information.
In response to five of the interim report recommendations, The Customer Experience Company was brought in to support both the Department of Defence and DVA execute upon these within the period of 6 months.
Preparation
In order to get our project team’s contextual understanding and awareness of the scope of the problem, we utilised the RCDVS’s Interim Report to form the basis for our secondary research, supplemented by other resources such as articles, websites and reports.
In accordance with the proposed project plan and recommendations by the RCDVS, we began preparations for the first of two rounds of co-design workshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Townsville (as well as 7 rounds conducted remotely) where CEC members and representatives from both the Department of Defence and DVA would hear first-hand from current and ex-serving members, their families and representatives about their challenges and experiences with regards to Access to Information from the respective departments.
Our Approach
Designed Approach in Accordance with the Principles of Successful Co-Design
To promote a safe space for the workshop participants, enrich our primary research findings and thus empower the Department of Defence and DVA to execute upon delivering an improved customer experience and support for their broad and unique community, we committed to designing our approach in adherence with 7 principles of successful co-design.
Holding Space for ~100 Current Members, Ex-Serving Members and Their Families in Workshops
These principles were integral to our approach to ensure we adequately held space for the near-100 current members, ex-serving members and their families and collated a comprehensive view of the end-to-end process of accessing information.
Developing Trauma-Informed Design Practices
In addition to this, trauma-informed design practices were embedded to conduct the research and project with care and mindfulness of the prevalence of trauma amongst the Defence community, which could influence their behaviours, needs and perspectives.
Being Mindful and Taking Care of Participants
Throughout the workshops, we took great care to ensure participants felt heard, valued and safe to share often very vulnerable experiences of trauma and grief. It was of great importance to the team to carry this care forward throughout the entirety of the project as we acknowledged that these workshops weren’t the end of the closure and healing journey for these community members.
Challenges to navigate
Balancing Taking Care of Others and Ourselves
One of the challenges that the team felt most viscerally was navigating the balance between holding space for people to share their stories and experiences for their own healing journey whilst maintaining our own mental wellbeing. During these interactions, we lent into the trauma-informed principles of care and made sure we held space for one another when needed.
Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management was once again a core focus required for the success of the project. There was a cultural and mentality shift needed to have the impact we sought after and we experienced some resistance throughout the project. We leveraged our strong trust and rapport built with the lead stakeholders who managed their internal teams and included the heads of each group and service in various phases and meetings to provide them with a space to articulate their concerns and questions.
What I'd do differently if given the chance
Use Stories to Build Empathy and Inspire Action
During many of the workshops we facilitated, we heard visceral, moving stories that really drove home the need for change within processes, culture and mentality within the Department of Defence and DVA. Due to the push back we were experiencing across the respective departments, I had strongly recommended we (with the consent of the people who were brave enough to share their stories with us) share these stories on to the heads of department during our stakeholder meetings and showcases.
Unfortunately due to time and resources, this was dropped after working with directly with the people I had interacted with. I still feel strongly about this being integral to building empathy and an emotional bond between the real people impacted by the operations of each department and the people making the key decisions about the future of Access to Information.
If given the chance, I would explore earlier whether there was another passionate team member with less workload who could support drive this initiative alongside myself.