About Michelle

Michelle Browning is passionate about supporting individuals and organisations to develop their skill in the practice of supported decision-making, and become champions of cultural change.

Michelle first heard about supported decision-making when she was working as a substituted decision maker for people under guardianship in NSW.  The concept challenged and inspired her.  After travelling to Canada and England with a Churchill Fellowship to explore what good decision support looked like in practice, Michelle was inspired to complete a doctorate on the topic in 2018.  Founding her consultancy Decision Agency at this time, she aspires to make supported decision-making research and practice experience accessible to all.

Throughout this journey Michelle has helped develop, implement and evaluate trials of supported decision-making practice across Australia.  She has assisted government and non-government organisations to produce resources, policy and practice guidelines.  Michelle facilitates training, practice groups and supervision for supporters wanting to build their confidence as practitioners.  She also provides training for decision makers wanting to understand more about decision making and their rights.

Publications that Michelle has written or contributed to include:

A process of decision-making support: Exploring supported decision-making practice in Canada, published in the Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability Volume 46, 2021 - Issue 2

Supported Decision Making In Victoria, published by the Office of the Public Advocate in October 2020

Global perspectives on legal capacity reform: our voices, our stories, published in Disability & Society Volume 35, 2020 - Issue 7

Future Directions in Supported Decision-Making, published in the Disability Studies Quarterly

What people say about working with Michelle

Justine O’Neill (CEO CID), NSW

“Michelle is a tremendous communicator and a person of great integrity. She has an approachable style that fosters openness and trust and results in deeply considered work. She is a leader in decision-making support research and practice and is always willing to share her knowledge. Michelle delivers high quality work, on time. I hope to work with Michelle again in the future.“

Leanne Pearman  (Co-CEO WAiS) and Su Hsien Lee (Co-CEO WAiS)

“WA Individualised Services hosted Michelle’s visit to Perth. Registrations for her workshops for Decision Makers and Decision Supporters were enthusiastically taken up, with many participants rating the content as highly relevant, comprehensive and immediately practical.   

Michelle also facilitated informed and valuable discussion with the WAiS Board, members and team about how we could deepen the practice of supported decision-making in our lives and work. 

We loved Michelle’s commitment and skill in individualising her facilitation for each audience.  Her generous lead-up and follow up of the workshop groups was very valuable in them getting the most out of their learning experiences.”

Our Services

  • Decision Agency provides customised supported decision-making training.

  • Decision Agency establishes and co-facilitates practice groups for organisations to develop confidence and skill within their teams.

  • Decision Agency partners with organisations across Australia to design, implement and evaluate supported decision-making projects.

  • Decision Agency offers strategic advice to government and non-government organisations seeking to embed a supported decision-making approach in the work they do.

  • Decision Agency offers supervision to professionals who want to deepen their knowledge of supported decision-making and confidence to lead others in its practice.

  • Decision Agency can develop a range of resources including practice guides, practice tools, documentation, videos and eLearning modules.

Enroll in e-learning.

Explore Resources.