Creating spaces for belonging

Published 16 October 2026

Words by Changing Minds’ team

We started our series of articles this Mental Health Awareness Week with a look at the place of the individual in belonging—the idea that we each have agency when it comes to choosing who and how and where and why and when we belong. We’ve discussed different perspectives on community, roles within it, what we’ve learned from community participation, and the power of collective Lived Experience voices and action. Today, we finish the week with sharing what organisations can do to encourage and foster belonging because, in order for people to have choice, we have to provide the options.

Create a welcoming space

We hear a lot about the need for welcoming spaces, that accept us to come as we are and acknowledges how massive that moment of reaching out for support, or to contribute, can feel for individuals. Community members tell us this feels like "homely spaces", places without the pressure of working out 'what you're supposed to do', and environments where you see yourself reflected back. In physical spaces this can look like, comfy couches, inviting people to feel at home grabbing a cuppa, and giving choice to the individual where they want to be and show up in the space. Clinical settings don't have to be the antithesis of welcoming. We often hear that one of the most significant barriers for Tāngata Whaiora when entering a service space (and which often leads to increased distress) is not understanding what's needed of you, or where to go in the process. Having someone greet you kindly and explain the process can make a huge difference.  If you are hosting spaces online you might like to think about setting up waiting rooms that let people know what to expect from the hui and planning for whakawhanaungatanga to take the time it needs, not the time you think it needs.

Be more comfortable with being uncomfortable

The pressure on organisations and event organisers to know concretely what they’re delivering before they’ve even put pen to paper or started planning cripples community engagement. If you want community in the room so you can make decisions together, it means those decisions can't be pre-decided beforehand. This means starting conversations with a little bit of discomfort as you hold the idea of what you might build, without rushing to have all the answers. This can mean holding a lot of excitement or even anxiety. It can be hard to contain excitement for an idea when you're passionate about it. It can be anxiety-inducing to hold off on making decisions when you've got a team (or funder) counting on you. But if you want community in the room, you gotta give them time to come into the room. To settle in, get their own lay of the land (and understand the awesome idea in their own terms), and then truly make decisions together when you're on the same page.

Importantly, a space where everyone is welcome is a duty that we, as organisations, hold and facilitate, not a task for the individual to adapt to.

Check your assumptions about risk

In the wellbeing sector, we like to believe that we are an inclusive space that’s moved past discrimination and prejudice. But, in our experiences, these prejudices still raise their heads in kōrero about creating community spaces and the 'risk' of having people with certain experiences in the room. Stigma creeps in when our understanding of people doesn't fit our concept of 'normal'. A person who is distressed and showing sadness, for example, may be considered more welcome and less of a ‘risk’ than a person who is distressed and showing anger. We have rarely, if ever, sat in a meeting discussing the risk of sadness to others sharing that space, but have sat in many discussing the risk of aggression. This is an uncomfortable reality to sit with. When we say ‘everyone is welcome’ in a space, we aren't talking about spaces without agreements for being in a space, it's why Changing Minds starts all our hui with collective Tikanga. What it does mean is asking yourself, as an organisation, whether you are equipped to support a person who isn't currently able to uphold those agreements and expectations, what your plans and tools are to enable that person into the space, and even asking whether you are the right group to hold that space, if you aren't able to answer those questions. Importantly, a space where everyone is welcome is a duty that we, as organisations, hold and facilitate, not a task for the individual to adapt to.

Don't just include, upskill

Where you have community members in the room, but the project they're contributing to requires a technical or academic knowledge that any everyday community member may not have, the question becomes—how do we bridge the gap? If you want community to engage in a complex project meaningfully, make sure you support them to learn the skills and knowledge to do so. Maybe there's an upskilling first-step that's been missing from your project. A period of training or learning that not only prepares your community participants, but brings them closer together in doing so.

If you want community in the room so you can make decisions together, it means those decisions can't be pre-decided by the organiser beforehand.

Track your progress/goals

If you're more practically-minded or are working in a team that expects you to track progress as opposed to a 'go-with-the-flow' kind of project lead, then set a target. How many actions, ideas, deliverables in your work have been created by, or with, community? 50%? 70%? 30%? Do the math, make a spreadsheet. This trick isn't about finding the 'right' number. It's about setting yourself a goal you think is achievable. Ask yourself, at checkpoints through your process—how are we tracking? Overachieving? Great! Underachieving? Why? What forces are stopping community from engaging in the work? Try to be brutally honest with yourself. Are community members working alongside you or just putting the finishing touches on? Better yet, ask community members at those benchmarks if they feel like they're a part of the work or if they have any suggestions for improvement. Sometimes doing this can help you realise, "Oh, we are being too dominating with our organisation’s voice / idea" or "Oh, we did come up with a bunch of ideas beforehand and we've been reluctant to let them go or let community change them." This tactic can help you realise that, despite your best intentions, there are some structural barriers stopping community from engaging.

Give the new guy a chance

One way of ensuring equity that often gets overlooked; make sure at least some roles in your project team are filled with people who haven't had the opportunity to do this work before. Especially if your kaupapa is about uplifting or upskilling community. Finding a way into community or Lived Experience work can often be the hardest step, especially if you're stepping into a new environment with expectations and a big workload. Creating specific roles in your team for new people, with a focus on upskilling, a robust safety net, and giving them a chance to work alongside more experienced team members means that, next time, they're the ones giving back. Teach a man to fish run a mental health workshop, as the saying goes!

This list is just the beginning. We’re planning a further series to expand on these ideas, so keep your eye open for that. Better yet, sign up to our monthly newsletter for all our news and updates.