The ceremony took place in Sydney on Friday, August 20, with over 1,000 guests from the design, architecture, engineering, and business sectors present.

Among the winners was the Hamilton Centre, which received a Good Design Award Winner accolade in the Service Design category for exceptional design and innovation.

This year's theme, "The Design Effect" underscored the crucial role design plays in shaping better products, services, spaces, and experiences while driving the transition to a more sustainable, less carbon-intensive future.

Collaborative research

To support the establishment of the Centre, our team collaborated with Monash University's Design Health Collab team to undertake consultation workshops. The insights from these consultations not only guided our approach as a statewide centre for co-occurring addiction and mental illness but also highlighted how collaborative design can create integrated care solutions that address community needs.

These workshops brought together over 40 stakeholders from across Victoria, including mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) practitioners, clinical leaders, peer workers, and lived experience advocates.

Together, they discussed the design of a best practice model of integrated care to support individuals with co-occurring mental illness and addiction.

During the workshops, several key themes emerged, such as understanding integrated care, addressing client needs, identifying barriers and gaps, highlighting enablers, specifying training and education requirements, and emphasising the importance of change management and organisational culture.

This research, enriched by the participants' contributions, is essential to the Hamilton Centre's development of a best practice model for integrated care for people with co-occurring substance use and mental health challenges.

What we heard during these workshops is collated in the Hamilton Centre Consultation Report.

The jury praised the Hamilton Centre and its Clinical Network commenting:

Congratulations to the team at the Hamilton Centre for receiving the Australian Good Design Award. Your establishment of a statewide service in Victoria that delivers integrated, inclusive, and holistic care for individuals with mental illness and substance use or addiction is exemplary. By leveraging a network of public hospitals, you are creating a comprehensive system that enables individuals, along with their families and supporters, to access necessary care across the state. This initiative sets a new benchmark for the treatment of co-occurring disorders and marks a significant advancement in mental health and addiction care. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement.”

Launched in 2023, the Hamilton Centre Clinical Network is a collaborative effort between some of the most respected public healthcare organisations in Victoria - St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Eastern Health, Western Health, Austin Health, and Goulburn Valley Health. Learn more here.

Award overview

The 2024 Awards highlighted excellence across 12 design disciplines, covering more than 32 categories.

The Awards recognise a diverse range of projects from Australia and abroad, encompassing architectural design, engineering, digital and communication design, and emerging fields such as design strategy, social impact and policy design.

This year's entries were rigorously evaluated by more than 80 distinguished jurors from around the globe, including designers, engineers, architects, and industry leaders.

With its roots dating back to 1958, the Australian Good Design Awards is the country's most prestigious international accolade for design and innovation. As the Awards mark another year of excellence, they continue to reflect the rich heritage and future potential of Australian and international design.

This recognition reaffirms that our team and Clinical Network are on the right path to improving outcomes for those living with both mental health and substance use concerns. It highlights our commitment to making a real difference in people's lives," celebrates Irina Hart, Manager at the Hamilton Centre.

Background

Many people living with co-occurring issues experience difficulties navigating alcohol and other drug (AOD) and mental health services across multiple, fragmented service systems.

To address this broken system and provide high-quality integrated treatment for those with substance use or addiction and mental illness, the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System (2021) recommended that all mental health and wellbeing services offer integrated treatment, ensuring people have access to the support they need.

The Royal Commission also called for the establishment of a new statewide specialist service to support this work. In March 2022, Turning Point, Australia's leading addiction treatment, research, and education centre, was appointed to run the new statewide specialist centre for addiction and mental health, now known as the Hamilton Centre.