It is well established that people living with mental and physical health concerns die younger and more frequently from preventable causes (Peckham et al., 2023). These co-occurring physical health conditions and health inequities lead to significant increases in personal, social, and economic impacts and burdens across the lifespan, and reduce life expectancy (Firth et al., 2019).

Equally Well received funding from the federal government to create a resource for people living at this intersection to have their healthcare needs met. This resource was co-designed by people living with mental and physical health concerns.

This presentation introduces the resource and identifies the factors in the co-design process that made its creation possible. Ongoing trust and goodwill between the research team and the co-design group were essential to accessing honest and direct feedback from the group without losing any members.

The result of this collaboration is a resource to support users to identify their health needs and communicate these to members of their care teams. The resource is online, and people can select the questions they think are important to discuss with their clinicians. We believe that this resource will be one step to reducing the health inequalities experiences by people with mental and physical health concerns.

The significant physical health disadvantages experienced by mental health consumers/survivors is increasingly well-recognised in Australia and internationally. Despite being the subject of numerous investigations, reports, programs, policies, strategies, and conferences, there is little evidence of progress. It has been proposed that this is due to a lack of co-designed, co-produced or consumer-led research into mental health consumers’ physical health and physical health care.

This research sought to test a Physical Health Conversation Guide (PHCG) co-designed by mental health consumers, families/carers, primary care providers and mental health support workers to address challenges associated with mental health consumers’ physical healthcare in primary care settings. People with lived experience were partners in this research as co-designers (of the PHCG and the method for testing it), co-researchers and as members of the lived experience advisory group.

This presentation will discuss the findings of the research which tested the PHCG including key processes that support physical healthcare decisions and interactions and the implications for mental health and primary care. Mental health consumers and general practitioners emphasised the importance of ‘finding common ground’ and ‘being on the same page’ to find solutions that align with consumers’ physical health concerns and priorities.

Kia Manawanui Aotearoa: Long-term pathway to mental wellbeing broadened the scope of lived experience contribution. The consequence has been the need to hear from marginalised communities outside of the established mental health consumer movements.

During 2023, the Lived Experience team at Manatū Hauora identified the need for understanding the lived experience of mental wellbeing for gang whānau and communities. Exploring how to provide a respectful pathway that enabled authentic amplification took the team on a humbling journey of connection and learning from Rangatira. Three different relationally orientated paths were trialled, each producing different insights and learning.

Tried and Tested is an outcome of one of these. This presentation presents the voices of 10 men on life sentence or preventative detention in Aotearoa. It holds their lived experience recommended actions for cross-government action to improve mental wellbeing for men from gang communities traversing the justice system.

To ‘show form in the provision of support’ is one of several recommendations vital to improving outcomes that have practical application not just for gang whānau and communities but for all.

In the landscape of eating disorder service delivery, the integration of lived and learned experience, between clinicians and individuals with lived experience, emerges as a crucial paradigm for holistic care. The National Eating Disorder Strategy (2023-2033) aims for an effective, equitable, and coordinated care system (National Eating Disorders Collaboration, 2023). Achieving this requires a collaborative, holistic approach from services and organizations, drawing on diverse skill sets and experiences to optimize care and outcomes for those affected.

Eating Disorders Victoria (EDV), with a 40-year legacy of elevating lived experiences, exemplifies allyship in Victoria's eating disorder sector. They emphasize the transformative impact of allyship, fostering collaboration between clinicians and individuals with lived experiences. EDV's culture provides a platform to integrate both lived and learned experiences into their care system, presenting both opportunities and challenges.

This presentation highlights the role of leadership in fostering authentic partnerships that honor both lived and learned expertise. It explores allyship dynamics, stressing mutual respect, empathy, and shared decision-making as crucial elements.

In this Presentation we will outline how the unique, state-wide, Lived Experience Workforces Development Coordinator positions came into being in Victoria. We will focus on the distinctiveness of these Consumer and Family/carer Lived Experience roles in enabling key foundational Lived Experience Workforces (LEWs) milestones to be achieved, to guide and support the LEWs growth through the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System (RCVMH) recommendations and beyond.
We will articulate how Organizational support has enabled these positions to flourish as distinct disciplines, whilst fostering strong feelings of respect and allyship within this small team.

We will outline how clarity of our separateness, as Lived Experience disciplines, enables us to work together to have difficult conversations and competing goals respectfully and creatively addressed, ensuring authentic responses to LEWs issues.

We will identify internal and external structures and strategies which have become essential in ensuring wellbeing, safety and creativity - enabling ground breaking approaches and collaborative solutions in LEWs advocacy, strategy, growth and sustainability.

In celebrating difference as both fundamental and legitimate, we identify common ground in which the core values of each discipline can be upheld and elevated in support of LEWs across Victoria.