“I like going on a journey with people to work out how to accommodate whatever it is they really need in the best way possible.”

Cath Muhlebach has a focus on the health and mental health services sector, a passion for nurturing team culture and fresh perspectives on leading the practice into areas that can elevate our impact. Mental health projects are a specialty. Helping people in crisis is challenging technically and personally, but she understands the impact of well-designed environments in supporting recovery while reducing aggression, risk and length of stay.

Cath’s a calm, measured, attentive stakeholder engagement specialist. She takes the time to listen carefully to the diverse groups involved in every project, from small community health facilities to complex ward refurbishments. She’s organised, efficient and focused. She keeps everyone on track – patients, families, executives and clinicians – as they tease out their vastly different perspectives and needs.

Cath helps stakeholders move beyond shopping lists of demands and find each project’s imperatives. She’s a people person with an uncanny recall for rolling conversations. She listens to find out what people are really trying to achieve. Her openness encourages everyone to drop their guard, question their assumptions and create the most effective, adaptive systems and spaces possible.

Cath encourages our design teams to keep listening to clients, responding to briefs and using budgets strategically to create the biggest possible impact. She has served on boards and committees and understands the challenges of getting projects funded and delivered while maintaining operations.