— Foundational / Seminal Work
Innovative and influential work that has gone before.
Abstract
The leadership of people with lived experience of mental health problems is underdeveloped, when it comes to leadership in one’s own recovery, at the service level, and at the systemic level. Unlike the mental health system, the user/survivor movement has a values base of empowerment and equality. But the movement has not yet created an explicit model of leadership based on these values.
Conventional models of leadership have little to offer but critiques of it provide a good framework for users and survivors to build its own model of leadership upon. If user/survivor leadership is to thrive, new roles, practices and competencies need to be developed. At a deeper level there needs to be philosophical, psychological and political shifts in service systems if user/survivor leadership is to ever take root. Furthermore, the leadership of empowerment and equality should pervade all the leadership in service systems and beyond.
Abstract
Stronger: A History of the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) and National Register of Mental Health Consumer and Carer Representatives 2002-2025. A history of the Stonger Mental Health Consumer and Carer Representation Project at Mental Health Australia.
Background: The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) and National Register of Consumer and Carer Representatives was a significant contributor to Australia's diverse Lived Experience advocacy landscape from 2002-2025. The two groups were part of a larger Consumer and Carer Representation Project based within Mental Health Australia.
Purpose: This reflective publication documents the lived experience work of the members of the NMHCCF and the National Register of Consumer and Carer Representatives, in particular how they complemented and influenced broader consumer and carer participation and policy reforms in mental health.
Key Themes: The document examines the Project's evolution from grassroots representation within the context of the larger ecosystem of mental health reforms, to structured policy influence. It traces the development of democratic processes, training initiatives, publications and collaborative partnerships that enhanced Lived Experience representation and influence at the national level in Australia.
Methods: Drawing on meeting records, various publications, members' reflections, and policy documents, the publication provides a focused analysis of the history of the two groups and their contributions to the mental health sector.
Findings: The Stronger Mental Health Consumer and Carer Representation Project successfully established an important mechanism for consumer and carer voices in national policy, produced evidence-based publications, established effective democratic representation processes, and demonstrated Lived Experience leadership over the years of the Project. This work was sometimes done alongside, and in collaboration with, numerous other organisations and individuals pursuing similar goals.
Implications: The publication illustrates how a structured advocacy approach contributes to mental health reforms; while highlighting the importance of diverse, complementary advocacy strategies. It demonstrates that effective system transformation requires multiple advocacy vehicles working across different levels and contexts.
Conclusion: This historical record documents how the Stonger Mental Health Consumer and Carer Representation Project, and the members', contributed meaningfully and successfully to Australia's mental health system-wide transformation as part of a broader, diverse movement of Lived Experience advocates.
Summary
In 1996 consumer advocate Janet Meagher published the first edition of this book as part of her research findings. Her goal for the book was to ensure those who have used services ‘have input regarding all aspects of service delivery, policymaking and any issues that affect their quality of life’.