About Conversation Cards 

A group of people with lived experience and learnt experience worked together to design something that would support and inspire better conversations in NDIS and mental health recovery journeys.  

Neami Group worked alongside The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI) to undertake a series of co-design workshops with NDIS participants, mental health professionals, and people with lived experience of mental ill health to find out what was important for them.

We heard that disability and mental health settings sometimes include the use of harmful language, jargon, and barriers to self-advocacy like unequal power and time restrictions.

We found there was a gap in the sector for supporting people to have better— more recovery-oriented support conversations—particularly in contexts such as planning meetings and assessments. 

So together, the group decided to develop the Conversation Cards, a resource to assist NDIS participants and those who support them to have intentional conversations. The cards provide a set of moves and ideas that enable us to share our concerns, name what’s important, unpack ideas, get curious, share power and build self-advocacy skills.

These cards are designed to help with building trust, share understanding, coordinating action and getting results.