Lived experience to guide mental health policy

NSW Mental Health Commissioner Ms Catherine Lourey has welcomed the announcement that the Commonwealth Government will commit $8.5 million to support lived experience as a pillar of future service, policy development and direction, when it comes to mental health.

The announcement, which was made by Federal Health Minister Mark Butler at the Mental Health and Equity and Access Forum in Canberra recently, committed $7.5 million to help establish two peak national lived experience bodies, one for consumers and another for carers and families.

A further $1 million was allocated for research and stakeholder communications.

Major step

Ms Lourey said this represented a major step forward for the mental health sector in Australia and something which many have advocated for repeatedly during the past decade.

‘This is a significant moment for the future of mental health policy at a national level in Australia,’ said Ms Lourey. ‘We at the Mental Health Commission of NSW have long believed that the people with lived experience of mental health issues are those best placed to develop effective policy and future direction.

‘Lived experience has long sat at the heart of our advocacy at the Commission in NSW and this ground-breaking extension on the national level is both welcomed and applauded,’ she said.

‘Lived experience brings a greater and shared understanding of issues that is central to the support and recovery of others. The personal insights of those who have been through these experiences can and should shape the way our future directions and policy initiatives.

‘Listening to those who use our services gives us the best information we can have about refining our future approaches and reaching our goal to help people live the best lives they can,’ said Ms Lourey.

Hope

Deputy NSW Mental Health Commissioner Tim Heffernan, a long-time mental health advocate and peer support worker with lived experience of mental health issues, said the announcement gives people with lived experience a sense of hope that their experiences – and those of their families and people who care for them – will form the basis of sound and effective decisions into the future.

‘Leading good policy and effective reform is, for many people, a very important part of their lives and recovery,’ said Mr Heffernan.

‘If anyone knows the historic and ongoing failings of many mental health services and programs, then it is the people who actually use them and they are best-positioned to help create services and programs that work.

‘This announcement promises a future for those living with mental health issues that is so much brighter and hopeful than ever before,’ he said.