AAPi attended the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer (NMHCCF) forum webinar this week who have been working in partnership with the national Primary Health Network Mental Health Lived Experience Engagement Network (MHLEEN) on a series of projects centred around Lived Experience Leadership. The purpose of the Network is to share approaches to co-design, lived experience (LE) engagement and the development of the peer workforce (Consumer and Carer Engagement and Peer Workforce Development).
Lived experience leadership includes formal and informal activity which promotes the values and goals of lived experience as relating to empowerment, peer services, social justice and citizenship. Leaders speak up to influence community awareness, organisational culture, policy and politics; leaders create space, pathways and inclusions with others; leaders prompt and support change.
The projects announced include:
- Lived Experience Digital Library: a central repository of mental health consumer and carer leadership-related knowledge and initiatives. It strives to focus on work by those with lived experience but also includes work generated by non-government organisations and academic and clinical and / or biomedical documents to shed light on the role of systems and their readiness to recognise and provide support for those with lived experience to become leaders of change. The toolkit involves clinical and non-clinical resources for the wider public to also use.
https://livedexperiencedigitallibrary.org.au/
- Lived Experience Governance Framework and Toolkit: created to guide identified priority organisations and jurisdictions when engaging with people with lived experience.
https://livedexperiencedigitallibrary.org.au/browse-library/co-design-and-co-production/tools-guidelines-frameworks
- Lived Experience Training Scoping Paper: proposes a model of what is required for progressive, viable and sustainable lived experience (peer) workforces to develop and thrive in Australia. Recommendations in the scoping paper are aligned with the proposed model to support advocacy and actions that need to be taken to ensure the unique value and transformative impact of lived experience is realised.
https://nmhccf.org.au/our-work/discussion-papers/pathways-for-supporting-the-not-negotiable-lived-experience-peer-workforces-to-thrive-a-scoping-paper-for-formal-lived-experience-expertise-training-programs-and-supports
The toolkit has five resources:
- Exploring and shifting mindsets for reflection tool
- Audit and action planning tool
- Roles and responsibilities
- Resource recommendations
- Where lived experience governance aligns with key standards and regulations
Over 200 people contributed to the framework and is seen as an ‘add in’ to good corporate governance that centres people, health, identity, and human rights.
Please refer to the below discussion papers and links for further reading: