Kindlab was established to encourage innovation and promote everyday acts of kindness across NSW Health. In its inaugural year, seven initiatives were selected for support following an engaging pitch event, where project leads shared ideas focused on strengthening compassion and connection across the health system.
Over the past two years, Kindlab has evolved, helping turn ideas into action, fostering collaboration across the healthcare system, and amplifying initiatives with meaningful impact. The 2023 Kindlab project leads demonstrated that centring kindness can drive a more effective, humane, and compassionate healthcare system. Each initiative was progressed with commitment and creativity, often alongside the demands of busy professional roles and personal responsibilities.
More than 90 submissions were received when Kindlab re-opened for applications in November 2025, highlighting the widespread commitment to kindness and compassionate care. Applications meeting the criteria were assessed by an independent review panel against five selection criteria outlined inguidelines. Funding will be awarded to an additional 11 projects across 10 local health districts and specialty health networks selected following the review process for the 2025 application round.
A kindness driven initiative creating personalised teddy bears containing a child’s heartbeat, voice, or music to support comfort, connection and memory making in paediatric palliative care at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Project lead: Matt Ralph, Paediatric Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant, Sydney Children's Hospital Network
This initiative captures a child’s unique heartbeat and transforms it into a gentle vibrational and aural experience, paired with a personalised piece of music and held within a soft teddy keepsake. As one parent shared, it “captured our baby’s essence and gave us a wonderful memory to keep.” Matt Ralph, Project Lead
This initiative captures a child’s unique heartbeat and transforms it into a gentle vibrational and aural experience, paired with a personalised piece of music and held within a soft teddy keepsake. As one parent shared, it “captured our baby’s essence and gave us a wonderful memory to keep.”
A simple, kindness driven model using a Carer Identification Card and a Staff Carer Orientation Package to improve recognition, communication and emotional safety for carers in hospital. These tools help staff understand who the carer is, what their role is, and how to involve them meaningfully in care. Designed to strengthen compassionate interactions, the project embeds relational kindness into everyday hospital workflows.
Project lead: Leanne Cowie, Strategic Advisor Communication and Engagement, Central Coast Local Health District
We hope to make carers feel seen, welcomed and included from the moment they arrive in hospital, by embedding simple, everyday practices that strengthen communication, compassion and partnership in care. Project team, Central Coast Local Health District
We hope to make carers feel seen, welcomed and included from the moment they arrive in hospital, by embedding simple, everyday practices that strengthen communication, compassion and partnership in care.
An initiative building on the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District's (ISLHD) Healing Hearts pilot. Heart-felt circles create simple, intentional spaces where staff, patients, carers and volunteers stitch felt hearts and share stories of connection. Storytelling is paired with Ripple Effect Mapping to turn human experiences into measurable insights that strengthen a culture of kindness.
The project will focus on systematically noticing, capturing, and acknowledging that every felt heart carries a story, and every story carries impact. By listening deeply and mapping these ripples, we aim to show how kindness travels in ways that truly matter.
Project Lead: Padmini Pai, Human Experience Program Lead, ISLHD.
Our why: Kindness creates ripples. Our role is to listen and learn from the heart and let those ripples guide change. Padmini Pai, Project Lead
Our why: Kindness creates ripples. Our role is to listen and learn from the heart and let those ripples guide change.
Evidence shows that co‑designed education can challenge stigmatising attitudes, improve understanding of the experiences of marginalised communities, and highlight the value of meaningful consumer engagement.
Project lead: Bronte Covington, Social Worker, St Vincent's Alcohol and Other Drugs Service
Co‑designed education has strong potential to shift ;attitudes towards alcohol and other drug use and support more compassionate, person‑centred care. Bronte Covington, Project Lead
Co‑designed education has strong potential to shift ;attitudes towards alcohol and other drug use and support more compassionate, person‑centred care.
This project explores how the new spaces created within the John Hunter Hospital Innovation Precinct including courtyards, gardens, family lounges, and carer zones can be used in culturally sensitive ways to support privacy, ritual, and connection at end of life.
Project lead: Karen Height, Facility Planner, Infrastructure, Planning and Sustainability, Hunter New England Local Health District
[This project] develops culturally sensitive strategies, co-designed with community and staff, to ensure these spaces enable compassionate, inclusive end-of-life care. Karen Height, Project Lead
[This project] develops culturally sensitive strategies, co-designed with community and staff, to ensure these spaces enable compassionate, inclusive end-of-life care.
A micro skills training program for staff that strengthens the first moments of interaction using a simple See-Say-Support framework, providing short, practical behaviours that improve communication, reduce anxiety, and build trust in busy environments.
This project aims to co-design and implement a micro-skills training module that helps staff communicate with clarity and compassion, building trust and delivering kindness that truly lands in the first moments of care.
Project Leads: Dipti Zachariah and Alicia Wood, Western Sydney Local Health District
This work comes from what our patients, carers, families, and staff have told us - that small moments matter. Dipti Zachariah and Alicia Wood, Project Leads
This work comes from what our patients, carers, families, and staff have told us - that small moments matter.
Brainiacs is an educational program for children aged 6–13 who have a family member with a traumatic brain injury. The program supports children to understand brain injury, develop coping strategies, and feel included in the rehabilitation journey, while also connecting with peers in similar situations. Its aim is to strengthen connection and build resilience for children and their families.
Project lead: Tina Awad, Social Worker, South Western Sydney Local Health District
These topics are sensitive and complex. We hope to assist the children navigating this difficult time. Tina Awad, Project Lead
These topics are sensitive and complex. We hope to assist the children navigating this difficult time.
An initiative to develop evidence-based distraction kits for use in the pre-hospital setting by paramedics to reduce anxiety, fear, and distress in children and neurodiverse patients during emergency care.
Project lead: Nicholas Holton, Paramedic, NSW Ambulance
Designing an evidence based distraction kit for pre-hospital use in NSW Ambulances drawing on the expertise of a multi-disciplinary group of professionals and consumers...we hope the kits will make a meaningful difference to reduce distress and improve the health care experience of paediatric and neurodiverse patients and their families Nicholas Holton, Project Lead
Designing an evidence based distraction kit for pre-hospital use in NSW Ambulances drawing on the expertise of a multi-disciplinary group of professionals and consumers...we hope the kits will make a meaningful difference to reduce distress and improve the health care experience of paediatric and neurodiverse patients and their families
A buddy pairing program (Jimbalang) that connects new staff with colleagues from different disciplines and locations to build connection, improve collaboration and strengthen workplace culture. Focuses on intentional relationship building to support a kinder, more cohesive and resilient AOD workforce.
Project Lead: Dr Lucy Dodds, Clinical Director AOD Services, Northern NSW Local Health District
We know human connection supports a sense of belonging and we hope our project enhances the experience of the workplace for our staff. Ultimately this will be reflected in better outcomes for the people we serve Dr Lucy Dodd, Project Lead
We know human connection supports a sense of belonging and we hope our project enhances the experience of the workplace for our staff. Ultimately this will be reflected in better outcomes for the people we serve
A sensory support pathway providing weighted items, earmuffs, sunglasses, soft seating and cleanable sensory packs from arrival through emergency department care. Paired with brief staff prompts and carer calming strategies, to reduce distress and support smoother procedures.
Project Lead: Dr Karl Pobre, Paediatric Emergency Specialist and Paediatrician, Co-Director of Emergency Medical Training, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network
This project is about making [the] experience calmer, safer and more supportive for children and families, by giving staff practical sensory tools alongside training that can reduce distress and help care happen more smoothly Dr Karl Pobre, Project Lead
This project is about making [the] experience calmer, safer and more supportive for children and families, by giving staff practical sensory tools alongside training that can reduce distress and help care happen more smoothly
A culturally grounded Elder in Residence role supporting Aboriginal residents at Garrawarra Centre. A respected community Elder provides yarning, advocacy, cultural guidance, and emotional/spiritual support addressing the gap in culturally safe, gender appropriate care for Aboriginal men.
Project Lead: Letitia Kelly, Workforce Manager Aboriginal Health, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
Dive into the human experience of healthcare. Through stories of warmth, empathy, and small acts of kindness, it highlights the ways patients can feel safe and supported during their most vulnerable times. Fran Wood, Project lead
Dive into the human experience of healthcare. Through stories of warmth, empathy, and small acts of kindness, it highlights the ways patients can feel safe and supported during their most vulnerable times.
Visit The Kind Side Podcast to listen to episodes on demand.
Tell Her From Me supports women completing gynaecological cancer treatment to share words of wisdom and encouragement with those just beginning their journey. Lead by oncology social work practice, the initiative fosters connection, empowerment and emotional wellbeing through storytelling, supported by beautiful cards with bespoke artwork and a practical implementation toolkit to enable use in other health settings. Participant feedback highlights experiences of emotional relief, empowerment, comfort, and a sense of connection.
To support broader sharing and collaboration, a practical implementation toolkit has been developed and is available on request through the Central Coast Local Health District.
We have learnt so much from this experience - mainly from the women themselves, who have transformed their lived experience into acts of generosity and meaning. Cindy Lyons and Lou Diviney, Project Leads
We have learnt so much from this experience - mainly from the women themselves, who have transformed their lived experience into acts of generosity and meaning.
Daily Dose of Compassion uses digital screens across Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District to share affirmations, calming content and inclusive health messages that uplift patients, visitors and staff. Displayed in waiting rooms, entrances and high traffic areas, the initiative promotes kindness, empathy and wellbeing while enhancing communication, with plans to expand across hospitals, inpatient settings and community health services.
We will leave you with this quote: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind” —Jennifer Dukes Lee. Asvini Nagarajah, Project Lead
We will leave you with this quote: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind” —Jennifer Dukes Lee.
Beyond the Birth supports mothers in the often overlooked fourth trimester by encouraging realistic expectations, open conversations and personalised postnatal planning. Co‑designed with consumers and clinicians, the Beyond the Birth booklet helps women prepare for life after birth, strengthening wellbeing, confidence and support during one of the most vulnerable transitions into motherhood.
The Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) Maternity and Neonatal Network partnered with Emily (Nov 2024 – Jun 2025) to help establish the project.
New mothers are as vulnerable as new babies – it’s important that we support and honour their journey as well as the baby. Emily Mitchell, Consumer Project Lead
New mothers are as vulnerable as new babies – it’s important that we support and honour their journey as well as the baby.
Cultural Compass is an immersive virtual reality training initiative that helps clinicians build empathy and understanding for patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. By placing staff in the shoes of a CALD patient navigating the health system, the project highlights lived challenges and supports more compassionate, culturally safe care, with a pilot VR training experience rolled out in 2025.
Working with consumers, HETI, South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) and Refugee Health Services, Cultural Compass has come to life and the team hopes to roll out the pilot in October 2025. Gordon Burnett, Project Lead
Working with consumers, HETI, South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) and Refugee Health Services, Cultural Compass has come to life and the team hopes to roll out the pilot in October 2025.
Gordon Burnett, Project Lead
Do You SEE ME is a consumer led initiative created by Luba Horder, a mother, carer and advocate, inspired by her lived experience of supporting her daughter with an invisible disability. Through powerful visual storytelling (short videos), this initiative aims to share real, everyday moments to reveal the hidden challenges many people face. The vignettes build empathy and understanding, encouraging health professionals to recognise the person beyond appearances and deliver care with compassion, dignity and respect.
...a platform to share diverse experiences, encouraging us to confront our discomfort. Luba Horder, Consumer Leader and Project Lead
...a platform to share diverse experiences, encouraging us to confront our discomfort.
Luba Horder, Consumer Leader and Project Lead
This initiative uses communication boards to support person centred, compassionate care by creating space for patients, carers and staff to share what truly matters. It has been implemented across multiple wards at Sutherland Hospital, the boards strengthen connection, individualise care, and reconnect teams with their sense of purpose resulting in meaningful moments, positive cultural shifts and an enhanced experience for everyone involved.
"[ I ] feel that as a patient the hospital is caring about me. How I feel is being heard.” – Patient, Cardiology Ward Julie Acquilina, Project Lead
"[ I ] feel that as a patient the hospital is caring about me. How I feel is being heard.” – Patient, Cardiology Ward
Julie Acquilina, Project Lead
NSW Health staff can access initiatives supporting the transformation of patient experience on the Elevating the Human Experience intranet and subscribe for news and updates.