Our vision is to provide a collective and independent voice for people with lived experience of issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction in the Northern Territory. People with lived experience, hold vital knowledge about what is needed from the system, both for individual care and at broader levels.
We recognise that for many people, their experience is ongoing. We recognise that for others, their experience is in the past. We include people with both 'living' and 'lived' experience.
We include family and friends who provide care and support. We recognise that people who provide care and support may also experience issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction.
We know co-occurring issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction are common. We value the lived experience of the whole person.
Meaningful engagement of people with lived experience of issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction is essential to achieving better mental health, social and wellbeing outcomes for all Australians. This is represented in the 32 detailed actions of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan and by the National Mental Health Commission.
All other Australian states and territories have lived experience representative bodies to provide a collective voice for people with lived experience. Our aim is to gather the knowledge, experience and perspectives of Territorians to inform the way the mental health, suicide prevention and alcohol and drug systems and services are planned, developed, delivered and evaluated in the Northern Territory.
The NT Lived Experience Network began as a volunteer driven initiative instigated by local people seeking to make meaning and create purpose from their personal experience or experience caring for someone affected by issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction. We have received funding to develop and trial our peer programs, however all of our advocacy remains unfunded. We rely on lived experience volunteers and the broader lived experience community to create independant submissions in order to ‘make the system better’.