Health Journey Mapping
April 2026 update
Lowitja Institute is pleased to share an update on the ongoing development of the Health Journey Mapping (HJM) and Managing Two Worlds Together (MTWT) projects. Funded by Lowitja Institute between 2008 and 2022, this work generated a range of journey mapping tools, resources, and practices.
The University of Adelaide team, led by Professor Janet Kelly, is now undertaking Mapping Journeys for Health and Wellbeing, exploring how these tools are being used to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Invitation to participate in research
If you have used or adapted the MTWT and/or HJM tools, you are invited to contribute to the research.
You can participate in:
- survey (approx. 30 minutes): Share how you have used the tools and your experiences of journey mapping
- interview (30–60 minutes): Develop a case study of your journey mapping work to share with others
Eligibility:
- used or adapted MTWT or HJM tools in any setting
- aged 18 years or older
Email mapping.journeys@adelaide.edu.au to participate in an interview
This project has ethics approval from the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHREC #04-25-1192) and Adelaide University (HREC #4075).
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience complex healthcare journeys from younger ages. Their healthcare journeys may begin in urban, rural or remote areas, and involve both similar and unique challenges when compared to journeys of other patients.
Hospitals and health services strive to identify and respond to the clinical, cultural safety and coordination care needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and improve the overall quality of care, but this is often challenging in busy clinical settings with multiple conflicting priorities.
Health Journey Mapping tools and resources
In supporting pathways towards overcoming these challenges to improve the quality and cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health care journeys, we have developed a package of mapping tools and resources that assist clinicians, managers and teams to:
- recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient and family needs
- identify strengths and gaps in health systems
- evaluate effectiveness
- meet accreditation standards.
The Health Journey Mapping package consists of a handy user guide, some worked examples, and introductory videos to support the uptake and implementation of three Health Journey Mapping tools at the following levels of complexity:
- Clinical: for busy clinicians in everyday clinical practice.
- Detailed: for more comprehensive quality improvement, care planning and evaluation.
- Complex: a higher-level tool that brings together multiple perspectives of the patient, family, and health services across different stages of a journey.
Built on the foundations of the underlying principles of Equity, Safety and Partnership; it is our vision that these tools can assist with:
- improving equitable
- optimised healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Access the Health Journey Mapping Toolkit
The Health Journey Mapping Toolkit is available at no charge via our Learning and Development Hub.
For enquiries, please contact us on learning@lowitja.org.au
