1 Jan 2020 DRAFT

Ellie Hodges - Lived Experience: what does it even mean?
So often the path to liberation is divided as different needs
take priority. This talk will explore what is meant by “lived experience”,
peer work and the plethora of clinical and professional
labels that lead to the division of people in the mental
health, trauma and addiction environments. Participants will
be encouraged to think about how we can work towards a
shared goal of compassion and connection while rejecting
deficit based approaches. The workshop will focus on our
common values and shared beliefs, and how we can all be heard in journeys of recovery
and hope.
Ellie has worked for twenty years in the community and mental health sectors as a
community development lead, therapeutic practitioner, manager, educator, advisor,
strategy/policy worker and consultant. For the past three years she has been an active
lived experience representative, leader and speaker at state and national level.
Ellie founded the Lived Experience Leadership & Advocacy Network (LELAN).
Matt Ball and Stephanie Mitchell - Do it anyway
The discussion since the beginning of the consumer
movement has been about how we shift systems
and institutions towards personal recovery. But has
the time come to ask – should we still invite the institutions
of psychiatry and politics to be part of the
conversation of human distress, mental health,
trauma and addiction?
Taking action is the process by which we can feel
and experience the spirit of Cesar Chevez when he stated: “Once social change begins
it cannot be reversed, you cannot uneducate the person who has learned to
read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people
who are not afraid any more. We have seen the future and the future is ours.”
Do It Anyway will explore having an idea and enacting it towards social change.
From Healing Voices to Re-Awaken Australia – making change happen is a priority.
Matt Ball and Stephanie Mitchell are Co-Directors of HUMANE Clinic. There is more
information about Matt and Stephanie in the Keynote Presentation section.
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