Consumer and carers

Consumer and carer engagement

People with lived experience and their carers are experts. Their knowledge helps improve care. Everyone has the right to be part of decisions about their care. Everyone should be supported to live a life where they feel included and involved.

group of people sitting on ground talking

Safety and quality is about mental health providers who listen and respond to my experience and what I need for recovery and to get through my distress.

  • LIVED EXPERIENCE PERSPECTIVE

We know that real change happens when we work closely with our stakeholders.

Talking with people who have lived experience, and the people who support them, helps us understand what the community actually needs. This leads to better decisions and better services.

When people with lived experience are involved in planning, designing, and delivering mental health and suicide prevention services, results improve. People recover better, and both service users and staff have better experiences. We need strong policies that support partnering with people with lived experience to check how services are performing and what outcomes matter to make this possible. 

We have a strong history of this work, including:

  • involvement in advisory groups and the advisory board
  • creating guides for consumers and carers
  • setting up a senior lived experience leadership position
  • helping establish national lived experience peak bodies.

To continue improving, we are launching the Lived Experience Capability Project. This project will help build strong and ethical engagement practices across the Commission.

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Commission acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which we live, work and learn.

Diversity

The Commission is committed to embracing diversity and eliminating all forms of discrimination in the provision of health services. The Commission welcomes all people irrespective of ethnicity, lifestyle choice, faith, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lived Experience

We acknowledge the individual and collective contributions of those with a lived and living experience of mental ill-health and suicide, and those who love, have loved and care for them. Each person’s journey is unique and a valued contribution to Australia’s commitment to mental health suicide prevention systems reform.