Nothing About Us Without Us
Voices of lived and living Experience
Their vision gave us a steady gaze.
Their vulnerability became our greatest strength.
What is the issue?
The voices of people with lived and living experience bring essential insight, context, and humanity. Their perspectives help shape our work to reflect real-world needs and realities, ensuring our efforts are grounded, responsive, and more effective for the individuals, families, and caregivers we serve.
What are we doing?
Voice of Lived and Living Experience
Youth
Healthy emotional and social development in our early years lay the foundation for mental health and resilience throughout the lifespan. Yet, 70 per cent of persons living with a mental illness see their symptoms begin before age 18. Mental illness affects some 1.2 million of our children and youth. By age 25, that number rises to 7.5 million (about one in five Canadians).
Youth who need mental health services as they are entering the adult mental health system are often not well supported: less than 20 per cent receive appropriate treatment — a figure close to the number of children receiving needed mental health services.
Voice of Lived and Living Experience
#ChatSafe
#ChatSafe is an internationally renowned suicide prevention program that aims to empower and equip young people to communicate safely online about self-harm and suicide on social media and other digital platforms and empower their parents or caregivers to support them in communicating safely. These are the world’s first evidence-based guidelines are designed to support safe peer-to-peer communication between young people aged 12-25. This may include young people responding to content related to self-harm or suicide, young people looking for information or support about suicidal feelings, or those who might want to share online their own feelings and experiences with self-harm or suicide.
Developed in partnership with Orygen‘s world-class research team and young people, the #ChatSafe guidelines address the critical need for open dialogue while navigating sensitive topics and aim to reduce stigma, fear, and misinformation surrounding self-harm and suicide discussions online.
Voice of Lived and Living Experience
Stigma Reduction
Stigma is especially damaging ꟷ and dangerous ꟷ for persons with lived and living experience of mental health problems and illnesses and/or substance use. While it often occurs unknowingly (through implicit cognitive biases), it expresses the inequities embedded in the fabric of our social institutions, organizations, and our shared ways of thinking and acting.
In health care, structural stigma occurs when laws, policies, and practices result in the unfair treatment of people with lived and living experience. Such unfairness leads to inequitable access and a lower quality of care for these individuals, whether their concerns relate to physical health, mental health, and/or substance use.
Voice of Lived and Living Experience
Catalyst
Our digital magazine that explores wisdom and lived experiences from all angles.