Page 145 - ReAwaken Ebook 1st Ed

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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