Co-design in action: “Find Services” tool
How community voices helped shape the navigation tool
August 5, 2025.
Finding local health and wellness support can be confusing—especially if you don’t know where to start. Across Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, many people have shared how challenging it can be to find help that’s close to home and right for their situation—whether they’re supporting aging parents, caring for children, or simply trying to find services close to home.
That’s why the Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Ontario Health Team (FLA OHT) created Find Services: an easy-to-use webpage that helps people search for local and provincial health and wellness services, using their address to find options nearby. But what makes Find Services truly unique is how it was built through co-design—from the ground up—with community members as equal partners in its design.
Listening to lived experience: a co-design approach
Find Services isn’t just another directory—it’s a practical, easy-to-use website that helps people find the services they need, tailored to where they live. What makes the tool stand out compared to other navigation resources is that it was co-designed with input from local residents through the FLA OHT Community Council, a group of community members who advise the FLA OHT.
“The intention behind the development of Find Services was to be a tool for our FLA OHT community to find the health and wellness resources that they needed—so input from our dedicated Community Council was a natural next step,” explains Ali Somers, Digital Lead for the FLA OHT. “Having a diverse group of people informing not only the content of the tool but also the layout and functionality was incredibly valuable.”
Ali worked closely with a subgroup of Community Council members who volunteered to test the tool through every stage of development. Their feedback shaped how Find Services looks, feels, and works today.
“As a Community Council member, I supported the idea of adding a local service search function to the website,” says Brenda Luffman, who was part of the co-design subgroup. “We discussed what the tool could look like, what types of services it should include, how people would navigate it, and even where the link should appear on the site.”
Brenda was one of the Community Council members who joined a subgroup to help shape the tool. Over several months, they reviewed drafts, suggested edits to categories and language, tested features like the map function, and made sure the tool worked well for its intended audience—the community.
“Having experience as a caregiver and navigating services for elderly parents, I was familiar with several services that needed to be included,” Brenda shared. “I was also able to test how easy it was to use the map function, search for general versus specific services, and navigate the site overall.”
What is co-design—and why does it matter?
Co-design means working directly with people who will use a service or program to make sure it meets their needs. It’s not about asking for input at the end—it’s about bringing people in from the very beginning and making space for their voices to shape decisions.
In the case of Find Services, that meant engaging members of the Community Council—including caregivers, people with lived experience, and those with different levels of comfort using digital tools. They helped determine what services to include, how to group them, and how to make the tool user-friendly on both desktop and mobile.
“Everyone had the opportunity to ‘play’ in the test system and bring back their opinions,” said Brenda. “Each member has different comfort levels using electronic tools, so it was a good test of ease of use.”
The group also identified specific challenges and worked with developers to fix them before launch.
“It was fun to be included in testing the tool,” added Brenda. “We definitely found some glitches… pleased to say all were fixed for the final version. It made you feel like the team was listening and truly wanted to develop a tool that would work for community members.”
From Ali’s perspective, co-design was essential to the success of Find Services. Co-design, she explained, helped ensure the final product is something people will actually want to use that will effectively meet their needs.
“Co-design is crucial when it comes to digital tools both in the health space and beyond,” explains Ali. “When co-design and end user engagement are missing the result is a product that feels more like a burden to people instead of an asset that improves their experience. Working with our community to understand their needs and concerns when it comes to digital health technology not only fosters trust, but helps us understand where to focus our efforts.”
Brenda agrees. “Co-design is an essential part of developing/implementing health and wellness tools or programs,” she underscores. “By engaging multiple members of our community who have a variety of backgrounds and varied lived experiences, you will be much more successful with your outcomes and will develop tools that are more user-friendly and meet more needs for more people within the region.”
Listening to a diversity of voices
Designing a tool that serves a diverse region like FLA means considering a wide range of needs. “While it’s challenging to identify every community in the region, the Community Council works with partner agencies to better understand the various community members and their needs,” said Brenda. “There were also conversations with members familiar with French language or Indigenous concerns who provided suggestions to better support those needs.”
Co-design isn’t a one-time process—it’s ongoing. As Brenda noted, “The Community Council is always looking for further ideas for improvement if there is an identified need through a partner group or outreach and recognizes that all tools must be continuously updated to meet those needs.”
At the FLA OHT, co-design is more than a method—it’s a commitment. It’s a way to ensure that services are grounded in real experiences and built for real needs. This project is just one example of what’s possible.
“Community co-design has been a pillar of the FLA OHT since the beginning,” says Ali. “This project reflects a start-to-finish example of how co-design can improve the work we do. The learnings from this co-design project will continue to influence the health system planning of our region.”
Find Services is live and ready to use—anytime, from anywhere. You can search by category, enter your address to find services close to home, and view contact info, maps, and more. Use it now to explore health and wellness services near you.
If you’re passionate about improving access to care, consider volunteering with the FLA OHT as a Community Council member. We’re seeking individuals with experience using community-based services, those living with chronic conditions, and members of equity-deserving communities. Your voice can help shape the future of local health care.
