E. Wylie, J. Kennedy-Good, V. Russell

beyond academy

Emma, Justin and Vanessa worked together on the whānau room rejuvenation project in Ara Manawa – the design lab within Auckland District Health Board. The name 'Ara Manawa' was gifted by Dame Naida Glavish, the Tikanga Chief Advisor for Auckland and Waitamata DHBs. 'Ara Manawa' has two components; 'Ara' to create, find, or forge a path. 'Manawa' means heartbeat, capturing intelligence, or a psychic knowing. To therefore reflect the creativity of the team and their drive to place people at the heart of design. Ara Manawa champions the needs of users in the design of new spaces, services, experiences and products via the application of human centered design methodology; ensuring the experiences and input of patients, whānau and staff are central throughout the design process.

Emma is the Consultation & Co-design Manager at Ara Manawa. She has a background in population health, international development and qualitative research; Thus co-design in the health system presents an exciting convergence of interests. Her work centers people at the heart of the process, exploring questions of equity and the effects of colonization and marginalization on health.

Vanessa is a spatial designer with a passion for working collaboratively to create exceptional user experiences based on strong insights and research. Her work is heavily influenced by human centered design and co-design practices, which flow through into her design outputs. Vanessa supported the whānau room rejuvenation project through a service design lens, ensuring the space works as a wraparound service as well as a physical space.

Justin is the Director of Ara Manawa. Justin has a History degree from the University of Victoria and spent his early career learning and applying Lean Six Sigma in retail finance. Justin Kennedy-Good has been at Auckland DHB since leaving Kiwibank in 2009. Having held a range of portfolios from production planning to lean design in wards Justin established Ara Manawa in 2018. Justin enjoys solving old, complex, and hard DHB problems through university and industry collaboration. Justin is currently working to extend the network of Ara Manawa beyond its initial design focus such that it fosters and supports creativity through interdisciplinary collaboration via Humanities and other non-design disciplines. By reframing how we identify, conceptualize and resolve health care challenges

Justin aims to improve care received by patients and whānau, and to enable improved care delivery by clinicians.