Today is World Mental Health Day, and this year’s global theme, Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change, asks the world to listen.
“This year’s theme asks us to hear the voices of lived experience,” said Kerry Hawkins, CEO of Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA).
“It asks us to listen to the Australians with lived experience, their families, carers and kin. It asks us to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices,” said Kerry.
“If we are really listening, what are we going to do differently?” asks Kerry.
“On World Mental Health Day we talk a lot about wellbeing. I want us to also hold in mind the people for whom today feels a very long way from wellness,” said Kerry.
For many people, distress is extreme and enduring. It often sits alongside insecure housing, poverty, isolation and trauma. Too often, the services meant to help add to the harm: long waits, crisis responses that end at the hospital door, and care done to people rather than with them.
“When a system sees a case or diagnosis instead of a person, a risk instead of a story, and a cost instead of a citizen, it demonstrates we’re either not listening, or we listened and ignored the message,” added Kerry.
This is not a reflection on the people doing the work. There are many, many people doing amazing work within our mental health system every single day. This is about the system as a whole and acknowledging the reality.
“So, if we really listen to the voices of lived experience, how is our system still responding with control when people need connection?” asks Kerry.
Today is a good day to listen.
People with lived experience, their families, carers and kin have been speaking for a long time. What they need now is a system that changes because of what they said.
If this brings up anything for you, Lifeline is available 24/7 on 13 11 14, and the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
