Participatory systems modelling for youth mental health: agility and adaptiveness to enhance stakeholder engagement...

Australia's mental health system needs to expand rapidly to meet the growing demand for care by young Australians. Participatory systems modelling (PSM) has emerged as a valuable method for guiding strategic decision-making in mental health policy.

This paper evaluates the participatory methods and approaches utilised in a series of PSM workshops focused on the development of a youth mental health decision-support tool for the Brisbane South region, Queensland. Baseline and two follow-up timepoints of semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of local stakeholders, including mental health professionals, service managers, commissioning organisations, and young people with lived experience.

Participants emphasised the need for diversity of stakeholder representation in workshops, but acknowledged the challenge of recruiting young stakeholders and culturally diverse stakeholders. Clear communication and education around the decision-support tool, as well as the utilisation of flexible methods for obtaining stakeholder input, both served to empower stakeholders in their contributions to the workshops and strengthen stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing.

The adoption of more adaptive and flexible workshop activities, and a move away from more structured systems modelling workshop 'scripts', is required to engage diverse participants within the youth mental health space. Results suggest knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement is an active process that is developed along the course of the workshops, enabled by education and clear communication, empowering participants to meaningfully contribute. Future PSM workshops should continue to develop additional activities and more targeted engagement with youth stakeholders to enhance their contributions.