Community & Co-Design.
Better community outcomes start by involving the people affected.
Community projects are stronger when the people who will use them have a meaningful role in shaping them.
Voice for Choice works with councils, health services, education providers, community organisations and project teams to develop initiatives informed by lived experience and real community needs.
We can help organisations listen well, identify barriers and design practical responses that work in the communities where they will be delivered.
Our approach to community and co-design
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Voice for Choice can plan and facilitate consultation that helps people contribute meaningfully to decisions.
This may include:
Consultation planning
Community conversations
Lived-experience consultation
Focus groups
Accessible engagement
Workshop facilitation
Advisory groups
Stakeholder interviews
Testing ideas and resources
Documenting findings
Practical recommendations
The focus is on meaningful participation rather than consultation for appearance’s sake.
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Sometimes the strongest outcome is not a new program.
It is helping the people already involved build the confidence, knowledge, networks and capability to keep something going.
Voice for Choice can support:
Community leadership
Partnership development
Mentoring
Project development
Stakeholder communication
Community networks
Inclusive planning
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Renée’s community work has included establishing All Abilities Basketball in Warragul, creating opportunities for people to participate in their local community in ways that worked for them.
Her broader experience also includes:
Mentoring through community programs
Supporting people to build confidence and independence
Mentoring CALD women through the Good Shepherd start-up program to develop sustainable businesses in the disability sector
Volunteering as an L2P mentor and supporting an autistic young woman to gain her drivers licence
Hosting networking events
Working with organisations across disability, health and community settings
Contributing lived-experience insight to local conversations and projects
These experiences inform the way Voice for Choice approaches community work: by looking at the people, relationships and systems around a project, not just the project itself.
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Regional communities operate differently.
Services may be further away. Professional networks often overlap. Transport can be harder. There may be fewer specialist options. And relationships often carry more weight.
What works in a metropolitan setting cannot always simply be copied and dropped into a regional community.
Voice for Choice combines regional knowledge with lived experience and systems thinking to help develop responses that make sense locally.
Build something people can see themselves in
The strongest community projects do more than invite people to participate once everything has already been decided.
They make room for different voices early, understand the community they are operating in and build the knowledge and relationships that help good ideas last.
We can help you create that process.
How we work
We work best with organisations willing to reflect, listen and make meaningful changes.
We welcome enquiries from:
Local councils
Community organisations
Neighbourhood houses
Health services
Schools and education providers
Government teams
Disability organisations
Funding bodies
Project partnerships
Community-led initiatives
We listen first
We start by understanding the people involved, the context and what is already happening before deciding what the solution should be.
We design with, not for
People affected by a project should have meaningful opportunities to influence it.
We look beyond the obvious barrier
Access is not only about physical spaces. Communication, confidence, processes, expectations, sensory needs, relationships and past experiences can all influence whether someone feels able to participate.
We build capability
Where possible, we leave people, teams and communities with stronger skills, networks and confidence - not an ongoing dependence on an outside consultant.
We respect different ways of participating
Not everyone contributes best in a meeting, workshop or group discussion. We consider different communication styles, access needs and ways people may prefer to share their views.
We keep it practical
Good consultation should lead somewhere. We focus on useful findings, realistic recommendations and actions that make sense for the organisation and community involved.