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

This article delves into the co-production of mental health services involving informal actors, patients, and healthcare providers, focusing on the potential of territorial laboratories as experimental spaces for co-producing recovery-oriented services. It examines the CoLab Torre Cimabue in Brescia (Italy), where mental health and well-being services are co- produced at the community level, engaging users, family members, local actors, and service providers. Thematic analysis of CoLab Torre Cimabue interviews revealed seven key dimensions, highlighting the role of territorial labs in supporting mental healthcare co- production with informal resources. These dimensions include informal settings and resources, real-life and recovery-oriented experimentations, tangible and welcoming spaces, horizontal and equitable relationships, exchange of information and service continuity, omnichannel communication and promotion, and urban regeneration and participation. While the co-design process fostered collaborative approaches, pivotal factors—Time, Value, Participation, Co-design, Scale, Space, and Attitude—emerged as critical for mental healthcare co-production. They suggest a gap between service design and delivery phases, indicating the need for transformative impact generation. The research underscores the importance of actively engaging informal resources in mental healthcare co-production, from service design to delivery phases.