What We Do
Our breadth of expertise and appreciation of the links between these areas strengthens our approach and the outcomes we deliver.
Examples of our work and just some of the methods we draw on are reflected in the following case studies.
Supporting four community legal centres to develop, trial and evaluate demand management strategies using an action learning approach
Partnering with Rachel Healy Consulting, in 2020 and 2021 Young Futures Consulting worked with the peak body, Community Legal Centres Queensland, and four ‘trial site’ community legal centres and five ‘buddy’ centres. The ‘trial sites’ were the primary focus of the work, while the ‘buddy’ sites participated to increase their knowledge and skills in data driven demand management. We facilitated a group action learning process to agree on baseline data that the ‘trial sites’ would need to collect to inform and later evaluate their efforts to improve demand management.
Success factors included use of Microsoft PowerBI as a data segmentation, analysis and visualisation tool; combining our expertise with that of the trusted peak body and the practice expertise of participating centres; facilitating group learning and problem solving; and investing in time and structured processes to think strategically and secure staff buy-in and participation.
Evaluating implementation of a statewide, place-based program to provide health assessment to children in out of home care
Through 2021 Young Futures Consulting was commissioned by Brisbane South Primary Health Network to work with Sodalite Projects on an evaluation of the consistency and coordination of implementing the National Clinical Assessment Framework for Children and Young People in out-of-home care in Queensland. The evaluation involved an audit of clinical records, detailed analysis of program documents, place-based sector-wide workshops, and interviews and focus groups with a wide range of professionals and community members contributing to and affected by implementing the Framework. Once data collection and initial analysis was completed, the preliminary findings were reviewed and tested through online sensemaking sessions involving stakeholders from diverse government and non-government organisations. These sensemaking sessions also enabled facilitation of shared problem solving to inform the future directions for the work.
Young Futures Consulting employed three Lived Experience Research Assistants to participate in our team on the evaluation processes, including two parents with experience of the Queensland child protection system and one foster carer.
Developing program logics and evaluation plans for lived-experience-led initiatives for people experiencing severe and complex mental health conditions
Young Futures Consulting has been working with the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (MIFA) since 2020. The initial work focused on developing a program logic and evaluation framework for a project funded by the Department of Social Services involving MIFA working with people with lived experience of mental health conditions and their carers to codesign the Finding North website to provide information about mental health conditions.
The work later expanded and in partnership with Sodalite Projects, Young Futures Consulting developed a program logic and evaluation framework for the Finding North Network, a secure online social network for people with firsthand lived experience of mental health conditions.
In 2023, a combined program logic and evaluation plan for the Finding North Network and the website was developed and evaluation of user experiences commenced.
Defining a long-term vision for the futures of the speech pathology profession in Australia
Young Futures Consulting worked with Outpost Consulting in 2015 and 2016 to facilitate Speech Pathology 2030, a project commissioned by Speech Pathology Australia to develop a long-term vision for the Australian speech pathology profession. A nationwide codesign process included people with diverse communication abilities, speech pathologists, and thought leaders from diverse sectors. The professions’ aspirations and possible responses to emerging opportunities and challenges were explored through 90 locally hosted conversations across each state and territory; online and face to face workshops; focus groups; and interviews. Over 1,000 individuals contributed to the vision, which now guides the profession’s strategic direction.
During 2019 and 2020 we were invited to work with Speech Pathology Australia to redevelop the professional standards for the profession. Speech Pathology 2030 was a key reference for this work. The resulting Professional Standards for Speech Pathologists in Australia now apply to all speech pathologists practising in Australia and all Australian speech pathology training programs.
Developing an evaluation framework for a statewide, multi-agency community safety initiative
Led by Outpost Consulting, in 2023 Young Futures Consulting contributed to developing an evaluation framework for Queensland’s safe night precincts for the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation, Department of Justice and Attorney-General. After identifying the evaluation questions in focus, we worked with six Queensland Government agencies to establish each element of the safe night precinct initiative and their relationships to each other. These insights enabled development of a program logic which in turn informed our drafting of the evaluation framework. Preparation of the evaluation framework involved reviewing existing data sources, interviewing data custodians, and facilitating an online multi-agency workshop with stakeholder agencies. The final evaluation framework included processes for both annual monitoring and triennial evaluation of short and medium-term outcomes. Care was taken to ensure a balanced approach to the extent of data collection and reporting obligations, data governance requirements, and delivering meaningful evaluation data about the outcomes of the safe night precincts initiative.
Hearing from children and young people involved in the youth justice system to understand the extent to which their rights are being upheld and wellbeing and safety is being protected
In 2020, the Queensland Family and Child Commission invited Young Futures Consulting to contribute to their work to examine elements of the Working Together Changing the Story: Youth Justice Strategy 2019-23 and inform systems reforms. The work involved conversations with children and young people aged 10 – 17 years with experience of the youth justice system to understand their experiences.
The approach was approved by an NHMRC Human Research Ethics Committee and gave careful attention to the safety and wellbeing of the participating children and young people. Each child and young person was accompanied by a support person of their choosing.
We prepared a detailed report prepared for the QFCC which identified the common themes experienced across the group of children and young people as well as the unique experiences of some individual children. The children and young people’s insights for supporting their wellbeing were also included. The report findings were included in the QFCC report Changing the Sentence: Overseeing Queensland’s youth justice reforms.
Supporting systems change in the child protection sector through lived experience leadership and advocacy
Since 2020, Young Futures Consulting has worked with the Family Inclusion Network South East Queensland (FIN) at Micah Projects. We have supported FIN’s work to bring parents with lived experience together with government and non-government agencies to collaborate on improving the child protection and family support system. Our work has included co-facilitating planning sessions with parents on the Queensland Parent Advisory Committee; developing a theory of change and evaluation framework for FIN; evaluating the early implementation of parent advocate roles within the FIN team; evaluating the Parent Advocate Training program delivered by FIN from the perspective of participating parents and FIN staff; and evaluating early implementation of the Charter of Rights for parents involved with the child protection system in Queensland from the perspectives of parents, FIN, the Queensland Human Rights Commission, and staff across diverse roles in the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services.
Contributing to the planning, implementation and evaluation of initiatives to enable value-based health care in the public health system
Over many years, Young Futures Consulting has worked with Queensland Health in a range of ways to support delivery of value-based care. This work has included facilitation of service planning, consultation and engagement to inform service improvement, design of evaluation frameworks, evaluation of models of care, support for team development, and development of resources and guides for workforce change. These services have been provided to inform statewide initiatives as well as services in specific metropolitan, regional, rural and remote communities.
Examples of projects we have contributed to include reviewing innovations implemented by allied health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, redevelopment of the Queensland Health skill-sharing framework for allied health professionals, research on the assessment and treatment of backpain by general practitioners, and research to inform the mid-term evaluation of the Allied Health Expanded Scope Strategy 2016-2021
