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Northern Territory
Lived Experience Network

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.
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Our Programs

Recovery Together

Darwin | Katherine | Alice Springs

A free peer education and recovery program for people who experience mental health, alcohol, drug or related issues. Click below to find out more and to register for upcoming programs.

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Circles of Support

Darwin | Katherine | Alice Springs

A free support program for family & friends of people who have an alcohol or drug problem. A safe and confidential space for family members or friends to access both support and information.

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Empowering Youth

Greater Darwin & Katherine

For neurodivergent young people aged 12-17, including those who may be on the autism spectrum, have ADHD, sensory processing needs, or who have experienced challenges that affect their wellbeing.

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Our Workshops

Hope for Recovery: Understanding the impact of Mental Health & Addiction on Individuals and their Families

Katherine & Online

A free 2-hour workshop presenting evidence-based information from the lived experience perspective about mental ill-health, addiction and recovery, including what it’s like and what helps.

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Understanding and Supporting Young People who are Neurodivergent

Katherine & Online

A free 3-hour workshop will build the knowledge and skills of adults to support young people who have ‘diverse’ abilities and different experiences of the world (e.g. autism, ADHD, trauma, mental ill-health, sensory processing needs, FASD)

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Fee for service

Coming soon







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Our Programs & Workshops

Coming soon / under construction (please refer to correct details above for now)

Supporting Neurodivergent Youth

  • Type
  • Dates
  • Locations
A free 3-hour workshop which aims to build the knowledge and skills of adults to support young people who have ‘diverse’ abilities and different experiences of the world (e.g. autism, ADHD, trauma, mental ill-health, sensory processing needs, FASD).
Find out more
  • Type
  • Dates
  • Locations
This is an excerpt
Find out more

Hope for Recovery

  • Type
  • Dates
  • Locations
A free 2-hour workshop presenting evidence-based information from the lived experience perspective about mental ill-health, addiction and recovery, including what it’s like and what helps.
Find out more

Our Network

'Living' and 'Lived'

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.

Caring for Family

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.

Whole Person

We know co-occurring issues related to mental distress, trauma, suicide and addiction are common. We value the lived experience of the whole person.

Why it's important

What the evidence says

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.  

Meeting a need in the NT

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.

Our committment

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’.  

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Our Activity

Supporting Neurodivergent Youth

admin May 17, 2024
A free 3-hour workshop which aims to build the knowledge and skills of adults to support young people who have ‘diverse’ abilities and different experiences of the world (e.g. autism,…

admin May 17, 2024
This is an excerpt

Hope for Recovery

admin May 17, 2024
A free 2-hour workshop presenting evidence-based information from the lived experience perspective about mental ill-health, addiction and recovery, including what it’s like and what helps.

Upcoming 2024 Programs

admin April 15, 2024
The following is taken from our email notification sent out to subscribers on 15 April 2024. If you are not already subscribed to receive our updates you can subscribe here.…

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The Northern Territory Lived Experience Network acknowledges the Traditional Owners across the NT and that sovereignty of Aboriginal lands was never ceded. We pay our respects to the Elders past, present and emerging.

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