RichmondPRA’s community businesses employ and support people experiencing mental health issues to progress their mental health recovery in a supported workplace environment.

In 2015, a democratic voting process was initiated to vote for people to represent the workforce on the Employee Advisory Committee (EAC) to facilitate social inclusion and decision-making opportunities for the workforce.

In the lead-up to voting, innovative peer-led meetings were held in each workplace, where employees heard presentations about the nomination process, electioneering, voting and appointments. Employees were encouraged to promote their nomination to fellow workers, to gain democratic support. All involvement was voluntary.

The initiative resulted in overwhelming participation by individuals, embracing their citizenship by participating in a democratic voting processes for the very first time in their lives, (including state or federal elections).

The EAC ensures individuals maximise their involvement in decision making and provides a platform for people to have direct input into workplace conditions, decision making and steering mental health recovery processes.

There are many different ways of participating that can be rather meaningful and offer a sense of belonging to particular ethnic groups in enhancing wellness / contribute towards recovery. Emphasis will be placed towards people who had or are having a MI. For the CALD communities, traditional methods of engagement such as public meetings or workshops do not always work. Inclusive engagement for the CALD communities in MH is thinking beyond the square, beyond the usual methods of engagement and encouraging ALL members of the community to voice their opinions, ideas and concerns of what participation could look like. Inclusive public engagement is also addressing the barriers and encouraging the enablers of what each unique CALD Community could face in line of participation. Evan will talk about all the above and try to explain some important overarching principles that may assist with CALD participation with CALD Communities regardless of their ethnicity. Evan will also bring to his talk the picture of current practices highlighting some documents drawn up over the years on this topic. Then it will be opened to Q&A.

“Trauma-informed” is one of the current “buzz words” in mental health circles (at least, it was, until the political climate meant that securing adequate funding became an even higher priority!) – But what does it actually mean, in practice?
What is “trauma”, how does it impact on people, and more importantly, how can staff working in the mental health sector (both clinical and community) work in “trauma-friendly” ways?
There has been a lot of theory and academic research published on this topic, but this presentation aims, from the perspective of a consumer (with a trauma history), to translate some of that theory into practical, concrete examples to help you practice in a way that is more empathetic and compassionate towards those of us who have experienced trauma.
This presentation isn’t about turning workers into trained specialist-trauma counsellors. It’s about making sure that ALL workers have an inherent understanding of what it really means to practice in a “trauma-informed” way, and through examples and case-studies, are better able to understand how to do this.

The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of the history and development of Consumer participation in the O’Brien Centre at St Vincent’s Hospital Inner City Health Program a public drug & alcohol and mental health service in Sydney Australia.

As part of the federal and state funding agreements in 1993 all states and territories mental health services in Australia were expected to ensure consumer input into services. In 1995 St Vincent’s Hospital Inner City Health Program began this process by employing people with lived experience. This has lead to innovative ways to gain feedback, and support people attending the service.

The workshop will highlight the work and show the collaboration between the drug and alcohol mental health services. in the O’Brien Centre at St Vincents