Lived Experience Forum

[Daisydreamer]

Hi SANE Community,

If you or someone you care about uses the Victorian Mental Health System for support, we have a special Topic Tuesday for you.

You might have heard the Victorian Government recently committed $3.8 billion to implement all recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Victorian Mental Health System, to rebuild the system from the ground up.

What will these changes look like for the mental health system and the people who use it?

To help us understand the future mental health system envisioned by the Royal Commission, we’re joined by special guest Graham Panther - a mental health advocate who was a witness before the Royal Commission. He is also the co-founder of the Big Feels Club - creating spaces for people with ‘big, scary feelings’ to hear from others with similar experiences.

What is the Victorian Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System?

The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was an intensive two-year inquiry, producing a final report that stretches over five volumes and 3000 pages. Its recommendations provide a blueprint to completely rebuild the mental health system. 

The Royal Commission called for lived experience to be embedded at every level of the future system.

This Topic Tuesday will be an opportunity to learn more, ask questions and find out how to get involved in mental health advocacy yourself.

To learn more about Graham, please feel free to check out the Big Feels Club and the amazing work he is doing in the lived experience leadership space in Australia!

Please join us here on Tuesday 17 August 2021 from 7:00pm-8:30pm AEST to follow this conversation. 

Want to receive a reminder on the night? Hit the 'Support' button below.

New to the forums or want to get involved in this discussion? Check out the How To Guide for Topic Tuesdays.

_________________________

This topic is a big one for anyone invested in the future of the Victorian Mental Health System. While each of us have different experiences of the system – from positive to extremely challenging - we want to make sure that this space is an open and respectful space to hold all of our experiences. Before joining this discussion, we would encourage you to familiarise yourself with the community guidelines so we can make this space as supportive as possible.

[Daisydreamer]

So great to see so many members supporting this discussion and interested to attend Topic Tuesday 🙂

I thought I might also share some resources to help you get to know a little bit more about Graham and the work of the Big Feels Club ahead of Tuesday's live event. 

When the final report for the Victorian Royal Commission was released, the Big Feels Club put out an article talking about the 4 things they were most excited about. You can read more here. We will be talking more about this on Tuesday. 

We will also be talking more about peer support! Graham was involved in an episode of the ABC's All in the Mind which will give you a bit more context from peer leaders 🙂 

Want to read more from the Big Feels Club to get an idea of what they do? Here's a few things you might be interested in

• What to do when you think you've ruined your life 
• No Feeling Is Final
• This episode of All in the Mind 
• The fear of being 'found out' by your closest friends

We hope you can join us Tuesday!

[Daisydreamer]

Hi there forums community! 

The Topic Tuesday discussion on the recommendations from the  Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System is starting in 25 minutes 🙂 Tagging all those who supported the post @complex @littlesparrow @99N @Mex @Franke @Sam3 @chibam @Kermit @Longingtobelong @Anastasia @Shaz51 @BlueBay @AussieRecharger 

We hope to see you there! Please feel free to tag anyone else who might be interested

[BlueBay]

Hi @Daisydreamer 

sorry I'm going to have to give this a miss tonight. Need a bit of time out. Would love to read it tomorrow if still on here. 

[Daisydreamer]

Hi @BlueBay, not a problem at all. Please feel free to check back in tomorrow 🙂

[cloudcore]

Hi @Ant7 , @Appleblossom @Bill16 , @Bow , @Owlunar , @Determined , @Flax , @Floral1389 , @Arizona @Gwynn , @Hup234 , @Judi9877 , @Meowmy , @Moochmouse, @Powderfinger , @Snowie , @StuF , @TAB @MDT , @VCat @Wolfie @complex @frog @saltandpepper @oceangirl @outlander @little_sparrow  !

We will be having a discussion tonight on the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System. If you're around, you're more than welcome to join this thread!

from cloudcore

[Daisydreamer]

Hi there forums community,

It's time to get started! For those that are new here, if you get stuck navigating this discussion, please feel free to let us know by using the @ button and mentioning myself or @cloudcore. We also have a how to guide for Topic Tuesday to help you out.

Tonight we welcome Graham from the @BigFeelsClub talking about systemic change and the recommendations from the recent Victorian Commission into mental health. Graham, we would love to hear more about who you are and what you do.

We are also joined by @floofycloud from the SANE team who is joining to share their knowledge and experience around the recommendations from the Royal Commission. And, the amazing @cloudcore, one of our peer support workers here at SANE.

To start off, we would love to hear from you: What are you most interested in hearing about tonight?

_____________

This discussion aims to provide a safe for us to share our thoughts, questions and experiences, and hold a space to hear from others. It is a big topic that talks about some of the experiences of the mental health system that may be close to your story. If at any time you are experiencing distress, or would like to talk to someone, the SANE Helpline is here for you. You also access urgent help at the top of any page on the forums 

[floofycloud]

Hello all  I’m relatively new to SANE, I joined at the start of the year. My background is in social policy, working in different levels of government. I’m passionate about yoga, hiking and reforming the mental health system (all at the same time). Looking forward to tonight's discussion, thanks for having me  

[AussieRecharger]

Rightio.. Lay this discussion on me... i am keen to learn

[Daisydreamer]

Hey @Shaz51 and @frog
Can see you both following along, welcome 🙂 Great to have you here and hope to hear your thoughts as the chat progresses