Satellite Foundation attended the recent MHV breakfast event

The Mental Health Victoria Breakfast Event – ”Realising Reform: Growing the Lived & Living Experience Workforce” was recently held in the State Library Victoria and was an opportunity to hear from services who are developing their Lived & Living Experience workforce and those working alongside them.

We were excited to have a strong presence of nine people from Satellite including four awesome young people from our Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

This event marked three years since the delivery of the final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (RCVMHS).

The Hon. Ingrid Stitt MP, Minister for Mental Health, gave an opening address about the journey since then and reaffirmed the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the RCVMHS recommendations. The panel of four included Katie Larsen, (Executive Director Lived Experience, Mind Australia), Rebecca Langman, (Director Lived Experience, Alfred Health), Associate Professor Simon Stafrace (Alfred Mental & Addiction Health Program Director & Director, Mental Health Victoria), and Kellie O’Callaghan, (Chair, Mental Health & Wellbeing Interim Regional Body).

During the event, we requested feedback from the participants of the Satellite who attended. We received a considerable number of responses; here are a few snippets:

What did you learn?

Satellite Participant 1: I learnt how much is changing in the space and the ongoing need for practitioners like myself to go into the Lived and Living Experience (LLE)  and mental health spaces with lived experience. I feel validated that my experiences and skills are at the forefront of reform in real time which is exciting.

Satellite Participant 2: I learned how previously disregarded lived experience was, and how there are hopes for it to be more recognised in hospitals and what not. That things are moving steadily forward, which is good.

What would you like to know more about?

Satellite Participant 1: LLE, peer support and how that could look like in the future of our work and opportunities for staff members like myself that aren’t considered a young person or in a leadership position. I would like to know more about the major hospitals, and whether they have lived experience consults. Especially those with psychiatric wards and eating disorder wards.

Satellite Participant 2: I’d like to know how the existing power structures within mental health settings (clinical and non-clinical) are being addressed at the micro-interactional and personal level.

Do you have any ideas about people/places/you heard about that we could explore further?

Satellite Participant 1: This event highlighted for me the gap between academic education and lived experience- you don’t know how someone’s mind works until you have that close of a bond with them. The event reignited a personal (sic) memory for me and my passion to use my experience to make a change. I would love to be a part of putting together safe gift boxes, or approving ones already out there.

Satellite Participant 2: I’d like to know how the existing power structures within mental health settings (clinical and non-clinical) are being addressed at the micro-interactional and personal level.

The Mental Health Victoria Breakfast event was a fantastic opportunity for us to network with those we often connect with through a screen. It fostered crucial conversations, and we look forward to ongoing conversations and connections.