Thank you for Bringing Your Voice!

Consumers, carers, service providers, family members and friends came together on Friday for an afternoon of consultation, sharing and musical performances at Bring Your Voice. With over 60 people discussing topics of recovery housing, stigma and discrimination, crisis and recovery support and mental health prevention and early intervention, we were able to capture the many different voices, opinions and needs of consumers.We greatly appreciate the contributions made throughout the afternoon via the discussion groups, anonymous answer boxes and those who were happy to be interviewed on camera and be a part of our short ‘documentary’ which will be presented to the new Labour government. This video will be available in the next couple of weeks on our website and social media platforms, so please share this with your friends and networks and keep spreading mental health awareness!As well as this video, we gathered pages and pages of written feedback on experiences, tips and ideas for ways forward to improve mental health and wellbeing which will all be taken into consideration when writing future programs at CoMHWA. This information will also be taken to government, to tell politicians THIS is what consumers want and need! 

“Regardless of what you are suffering, you are still you and you are important. However dark you may feel, however lonely you feel, we are your friend and we respect you.”

Quote taken from one of our discussion zones – something important to remember!Lastly, we would like to say a big thank you to our volunteers and performers from the afternoon; Agneta Hyland, Kit Scott, Kai Schweizer, Dean Ward, Amy Matthews and Ian Meldrum – all gave up their valuable time to facilitate topic zones, set up, pack down and be an ear for anyone who needed a chat throughout the afternoon. Our performers; Licy Be, Tiri Boy, Lachie Higgins and Clay Darius, all whom have amazing talent and were enjoyed by all – thank you for offering your time to such an important cause!Photos will also be available online soon – in the meantime, please keep bringing your voice to enable the much needed changes in mental health.