Embracing lived experience - an important first step but where does the sector go from here?
I was fortunate to talk alongside mental health sector leaders, Katie Larsen (Mind’s Senior Manager Strategic Reform), Gill Callister (Mind CEO), Lisa Sweeney (Mental Health Advocate) and Dr Louise Byrne (Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University) as part of Mind Australia’s launch of their new Lived Experience Strategy.
Mind Australia’s strategy and team should be applauded for their work which features four pillars that underpin their strategy:
1. Leadership and culture
2. Design and decision-making
3. Workforce development, and
4. Innovation and influence
Importantly, they are responsive to the concerns that the lived experience workforce has raised about ongoing stigma and discrimination, the tendency just to consult service-aligned lived experience experts, and the urgent need to transition our services to a focus on recovery. The lived experience workforce is identified as central to Mind Australia’s future innovations.
These are not just motherhood statements either, with the strategy identifying key deliverables and responsible parties. It is the kind of strategy that I’m sure many lived experience workforce members would be excited to read, and I encourage you to do so (you can also watch the webinar launch here).
However, it also raises questions. Mainly about the role of government as an enabler and systems leader in fostering a rich lived experience workforce.
Usually, a good heuristic for finding out what social issues matter is to look at how they are regulated. Things we are disgusted by, like violence and abuse, tend to attract criminal sanctions. Workplace hazards, which previously resulted in avoidable deaths and injury, are now routinely and rigorously assessed by organisations and independent regulators. Recently, gender inequality and sexual harassment has brought on new regulatory regimes.
In Victoria, the latter is illustrated by the introduction of the Gender Equality Act 2020. The passing of this law, and the creation of the Commissioner for Gender Equality, were watershed moments. Public authorities – including government departments, but also Victorian hospitals – now have rigorous responsibilities to assess their own organisation for indicators on gender equality, and report on them publicly. They must show that they have made real progress on minimum standards as well as progress on their own reported commitments. It is real accountability, and it is an example of government taking a leadership issue on things that matter to Victorians.
[listen to my conversation with Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent]
At present, we don’t have this standard of oversight or transparency for the lived experience workforce, despite them facing ongoing discrimination and inequality. A question many would have reading Mind’s strategy is: how does Mind Australia compare with its competitors? At present, we can’t easily know.
There is important work underway. The Victorian government is developing a lived experience organisational readiness framework and training program, but it’s not clear whether this information will be publicly reported or not. This process should be overseen and reported on to an independent regulator like the forthcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
Doing so will allow a regulator with appropriate powers and visibility to celebrate the leaders in this space, support those who are well intentioned but struggling, and hold accountable those that show little commitment for change. This is what the Commission was created to do – hold services and government to account for the reform agenda.
Strategies like Mind’s show the value of leadership and accountability to the lived experience workforce. Independent regulation and oversight will ensure this is a reality across Victoria.
An augmented version of this post was published on Mind Australia’s website.
