Designing for Co-Production in a Territorial Lab for Mental Health

This article explores the co-production of mental health services involving informal actors, patients, and healthcare providers, specifically focusing on the potential of territorial laboratories as experimental spaces for co-producing recovery-oriented services. The research centers on the CoLab Torre Cimabue in the city of Brescia (Italy), where the co-production of mental health and well-being services occurs at the community level, engaging users, family members, local actors, and service providers. Through a thematic analysis of interviews on the experiences within CoLab Torre Cimabue, seven main dimensions emerged, shedding light on the potential role of territorial labs in supporting the co-production of mental healthcare with informal resources. These dimensions encompass informal settings and resources, real-life and recovery-oriented experimentations, tangible and welcoming space, horizontal and equitable relationships, exchange of information and service continuity, omnichannel communication and promotion, and urban regeneration and participation. While the co-design process successfully nurtured a collaborative approach and culture among participants, certain factors have proven indispensable. From these dimensions, the research elaborates on seven pivotal factors—Time, Value, Participation, Co-design, Scale, Space, and Attitude—critical for the co-production of mental healthcare with the active engagement of informal resources, encompassing both service design and service delivery phases. These factors suggest a gap between service design and the service delivery phase, where the actual transformative impact can be generated.