OPPORTUNITIES FOR USING (Y)OUR LIVED EXPERIENCE FOR CHANGE

LELAN is partnering with SA Health and Think Human to look at ways of improving peoples access and experiences of finding support and advice when they need it. For example, when you are distressed or struggling in parts of your life and would like to be connected to resources and supports available to you.

As part of this process LELAN is seeking feedback from participants from South Australia with a lived experience including having accessed one of the phone helplines available in South Australia such as Mental Health Triage, ETLS (Emergency Triage and Liaison Service – Regional SA), CAMHS connect (Child and Adolescent Mental Health), Head to Health phoneline or LETSS (Lived Experience Telephone Support Service).

Your feedback will contribute to a better understanding of people’s experiences when contacting helplines and how this point of contact can be improved to meet the needs of those seeking support. This is a great opportunity for people with lived experience to directly shape how people might access support in the future.

Complete a Survey:

We are inviting people with lived experience to complete this survey. The Survey closes on Friday the 2nd of August.

There is also an opportunity to provide more in-depth feedback via a one-to-one interview (Zoom or Phone) for 10 participants. Participants in one-to-one interviews will be remunerated with an honorarium payment of $40. If you would like to provide feedback one to one with someone from LELAN via phone call or Zoom, please choose a time on either Monday July 22 or Monday July 29 at this link.

Systemic discussion is ongoing into into how our mental health response system could be improved to help those in crisis.

BEING is keen to capture the opinions of people who have experienced suicidality to understand who you would most like to support you when you’re experiencing suicidality.

If you have experienced suicidality, please click on the button below to answer two questions which should take less than a minute to complete.

You are not required to provide your personal details so your response by default will be anonymous. However, if you might be willing to talk about your experience, please provide contact details in the form so we can get in touch.

To complete the feedback, click here. 

Researchers at Flinders University are interested in hearing the voices of people with lived experience can inform and influence the education of social work students.

Your stories and suggestions are an important resource for universities to include in the teaching of students who will become future practitioners. You will be asked to attend an interview at a mutually decided location and answer some questions about your lived experience. All participation is voluntary.

For more information contact Michelle Edwards (student) by emailing edwa0280@flinders.edu.au

Sona Jerry is undertaking a research project with ANU on understanding the roles, and challenges faced by migrant consumer representatives in healthcare settings. It aims to examine the advocacy strategies they use, and the impact of these strategies on healthcare services. Special attention is given to the intersectionality of the consumers’ identities and the systemic barriers they encounter as well. 

For data collection, Sona will be interviewing 10 participants who self-identify as migrants, and are consumer representatives regarding their motivations for entering the field, and the challenges they have experienced. 

To participate, please fill in the google form: https://forms.gle/c7D5AyoWcwh7paHx5.

If you wish to contact Sona her details are: phone: 0420573681, or via email at sona.jerry@anu.edu.au.

Orygen is researching how people living with psychosis experience social inclusion and social cognition. They are inviting people aged 25 to 65 who are living with a psychotic illness to share their experience.

Participation will require completing some questionnaires, taking part in an interview and completing some cognitive tasks. Participants will be reimbursed for their time.

If you wish to discuss the project further, please contact Annabel on 0437051 846 on annabel.burnside@orygen.org.au

Monash Health are interested in developing a comprehensive program of support and helpful information for young people, parents, and caregivers. The first part of this research aims to produce a series of text messages for young people who present to an ED due to suicidal ideation or following an attempted suicide, and their parents/carers. These text messages will become part of the comprehensive brief intervention program made up of safety planning, text-message support, and a parent factsheet delivered in an emergency department by trained clinicians to support teens at risk of suicide and their parents/carers.

They are hoping to hear opinions from young people, parents/carers, and clinicians to help them develop this program. 
 

They are looking for:

• Young people aged 16-24 with lived experience of suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide during ages 12-18 years
• Parents and carers of a young person who experienced suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide during ages 12-18 years
• Clinicians with at least one year experience in supporting teens with suicide-related concerns and their parents/carers

If you would like to take part or would like more information, click here.

NSW Health are conducting a research project on a video they made about the pros and cons of Clozapine. It was made by consumers, for consumers. You don’t have to be taking Clozapine to watch the video. They are seeking feedback from consumers, carers, health professionals, peer workers and any other interested parties.

 To watch the video click here.

To complete the survey click here.

This project aims to investigate the facilitators and barriers to help-seeking for self-harm in young people by taking a systems thinking perspective to this issue.

We invite you to participate in this research project by completing an anonymous online survey. The online survey includes questions about your demographic background and your (personal or professional) experiences with help-seeking for self-harm in young people.

The survey will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete and you will be compensated $20 for your time.

For more information and to take part, click here.

Do you work with people who hear voices? The University of Sydney invite you to be part of a research study to help us evaluate a set of online resources to help mental health workers to support voice-hearers using an evidence-based voice hearing approach.

You are eligible if you are a mental health worker (e.g., clinician, support worker peer worker, psychiatrist) who works with voice-hearers. Participating in the study involves less than 3 hours of your time spread over an 8 week period. It includes you going through the online resources (2 hours) and doing three questionnaires (5-20 minutes each). You will be randomised to receive the resources immediately (after doing the first questionnaire) or in 4 weeks’ time (after the doing the second questionnaire).

For more information or to volunteer for the study:
Contact Dr Anne Honey atanne.honey@sydney.edu.au
Read the Participant Information Statement available at the link below
https://t.ly/eiDgc.

Victoria University would like to hear from adults (18+) with a lived experience of OCD, hoarding, compulsive hair puling/skin picking or body dysmorphia to better understand if and how other people treat you differently because of your mental health. It is hoped that this research will help shine a light on what it’s like to live with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders in Australia, and guide anti-stigma practices in health and mental healthcare settings, workplaces, in the media, online, and in personal relationships.

What’s involved?

• You will be asked to complete a confidential online survey at a time and place that’s convenient to you. You will be asked questions about:
• Your demographic information
• Your obsessive-compulsive and other related symptoms
• How other people treat you (both positively and negatively) because of your lived experience of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
• Your own and other’s attitudes towards people living with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders

Questions about stigma will cover a range of important areas of life – your relationships with friends and family, employment, treatment in health and mental healthcare services, and what you’ve seen in social media and mass media.

For more information, contact lead researcher, Dr Imogen Rehm: imogen.rehm@vu.edu.au

Find more information and access the survey here.

The Co-Creating Safe Spaces project is led by A/Prof Michelle Banfield and a team of lived experience researchers based at The Australian National University. They are evaluating safe spaces and safe havens in Australia in collaboration with services and communities. The project is funded by a grant from Suicide Prevention Australia.

As a part of their research, they are seeking people from the community to fill in our anonymous online survey, to share their insights on services and support for people experiencing emotional distress and/or suicidal crisis. Anyone over 16 years is welcome to contribute, whether or not they have heard about or used safe spaces.

The survey is open to anyone aged 16 years or over. Whether you have personal experience, have supported someone in distress, or simply wish to contribute, they welcome your input!

For more information and to access the survey, click here.

Do you provide peer-support to Australians living with mental health issues or accessing mental healthcare services? If so, researchers from Victoria University would like to hear from you about the benefits and challenges you face in this important work. This research aims to better understand how workplace factors, and other factors like self-stigma and personal recovery, might contribute to the job satisfaction and quality of life of Australia’s mental health peer-support workforce.

What’s involved?

You will be asked to complete a confidential online survey at a time and place that’s convenient to you. The survey should take ~30 minutes to complete. You will be asked questions about your:

• ·Demographic information
• ·The benefits and challenges of your role as a peer-supporter
• ·Job satisfaction and quality of life
• ·Experiences with self-stigma and mental health recovery
• You are eligible to participate in this research if you are:
• ·Aged 18+
• ·Have worked as a mental health peer-supporter in Australia during the past 12 months (paid or voluntary roles)
• ·Have a lived experience of mental health issues, psychological distress, mental health service use, and/or recovery

To learn more, click on this link or contact Rachel Sherlock: rachel.sherlock1@vu.edu.au.

In this study Orgyen is researching social inclusion. Social inclusion means having opportunities to participate in social activities that we like and feeling good about the opportunities that are available to us.

Evidence suggests social inclusion can affect a person’s mental health and be affected by a person’s mental health. Sometimes people who have experienced mental ill-health such as psychosis, can have difficulty noticing and processing social prompts in the environment. This can affect their ability to carry out daily activities.

We want to better understand how difficulties in social thinking skills may affect social inclusion in both early and late stages of psychosis and in those without lived experience of serious mental ill-health.

Participants will be reimbursed for their time. 

For more information and to participate, click here. 

Mind are seeking a compassionate, resilient LGBTIQA+ Peer Practitioner for a Permanent, Full Time opportunity to work alongside the  Wellness Connect team in the Central Adelaide area. You will utilise your lived experience of mental ill health and recovery, to provide services to consumers, families and carers in line with Mind’s Model of Recovery Oriented Practice, My Better Life model and organisational values for people experiencing a severe mental health condition resulting in reduced psychosocial functional capacity.   

Peer support is an important part of Mind’s approach to recovery. The Peer Practitioner works as part of a multidisciplinary team with lived experience of mental ill health and recovery being the unique specialist lens that they bring. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Draw on the knowledge, skills and expertise as a member of the LGBTIQA+ community to inform your practice with people who share similar experiences.
• Provide direct support to individual consumers to enable them to engage in a meaningful life by supporting them through a strength-focused, staged approach to recovery using agreed practice techniques and approaches.
• Create linkages and build relationships and referral pathways with services that support LGBTIQA+ community members.
• Share your personal lived experiences in an appropriate and meaningful manner to provide support, empowerment, instil hope, and contribute to the consumer’s recovery process.
• Engage with consumers to fully understand their need for assistance from local service providers with clinical mental health, physical health, education and employment, LGBTIQA+ community connectedness, eligible entitlements and benefits, housing, transport, recreation and social connections. 

For more information and to apply, click here. 

mindshare is a creative mental health community and online platform that provides a voice for those with lived experience of mental illness.

It is a space where anyone and everyone can share personal experiences or thoughts connected to mental health, either in everyday observations or through art and storytelling. mindshare welcomes all original creative work—short stories, poetry, blog posts, podcasts, paintings, music recordings, photography, mini documentaries and much more.

For more information and to submit your creatve work, click here. 

Alternatives to Suicide (Alt2Su) peer-led community-based groups centre mutual connection and meaning making around suicide distress, thoughts and experiences. They offer non-clinical spaces where people can be honest about their experiences without fear of forced treatment, other forms of coercion, or risk assessment that shuts conversation down.

Multiple Alt2Su groups are available online and in-person for people in South Australia each week. Some groups are completely open and some are specifically designed to be for people of particular ages, gender, sexual or culturally diverse identities.

Alternatives to Suicide was developed by the Wildflower Alliance (formerly the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community) in the US.

To see what groups are running click here.

If you have any questions reach out to the LELAN team at info@lelan.org.au.

The Lived Experience Leadership and Change Community of Practice is held online every six weeks and has been created to:

• Offer a ‘safe-enough’ space for lived experience leaders and allies to share information and experiences about their change goals and efforts.
• Explore and grapple with dilemmas and opportunities in and for influencing change.
• Build capacity and skills to generate new thought, shared approaches and resources that support thinking and collective action in this space.

Dates for the Community of Practice for 2024 (9.30-11am SA time):

• Wednesday July 10th 2024.
• Wednesday August 21st 2024.
• Wednesday October 2nd 2024.
• Wednesday November 13th 2024.

For more information and to register click here.

For any questions about the Community of Practice email info@lelan.org.au.

Join the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) for their exciting new initiative – weekly drop-in sessions designed especially for young people like you! These informal online gatherings provide a unique opportunity for individuals from migrant, refugee, and international student backgrounds to have their voices heard and help shape MYAN’s national advocacy work.

Mark your calendars for the first 3 Wednesdays of the month from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm AEDT, with each session focusing on specific groups – young people from refugee backgrounds, young people from migrant backgrounds, and international students.