A big birthday for our recovery and wellbeing champions

5 August 2024

On Thursday 25 July, the Recovery and Wellbeing College proudly celebrated its 10th anniversary. The College provides co-produced education that supports and empowers individuals with lived experience of mental distress, their carers, and staff in South Eastern Sydney Local Health District. 

To mark this milestone, the College hosted the Transforming Mental Health and Wellbeing forum, for people with lived experience, practitioners, peer workers and mental health advocates.  

With over 120 people in attendance, the event highlighted the program's success in educating and transforming lives while championing the inclusion of lived experience in policy development, educational programs, and service delivery. 

The forum opened with a Welcome to Country by Darryl Gardiner, Senior Aboriginal Mental Health Clinician and Wiradjuri Man, who shared his family's story of overcoming intergenerational trauma and his challenges of navigating mental health services. His story highlighted the lasting impact of intergenerational trauma and the importance of this understanding continuing to inform our work. 

Students, peer workers, and clinical educators shared how the College has influenced their lives and practices. Notably, Cheryl Wittingslow, now a Project Officer at SESLHD, spoke about how her time as a student at the College was instrumental in her recovery journey. She shared that the program helped her become a peer worker and ultimately advancing her to her current role in transforming mental health facilities. 

The inimitable Fay Jackson, a mental health leader and advocate with lived experience, moved the audience with her emotional story and emphasised the importance of genuine human connection in improving people’s experience in mental health care. She told the forum: “You should be proud of what you have here…you don’t know how rare this is.” She urged everyone to become leaders of change, regardless of their background or title.  

Chris Hay, General Manager of SESLHD’s Mental Health Services, concluded the forum by acknowledging the ongoing challenges in providing safe, trauma-informed and accessible mental health care. He emphasised the necessity of genuine partnerships with those who have lived experience to address these challenges.  

Chris congratulated the Recovery and Wellbeing College on its remarkable achievements, highlighting its innovative approach that values both professional and lived experience expertise. This collaborative and empowering initiative exemplifies how mental health services can be transformed to better support individuals and communities. 

You can read more about the SESLHD Recovery and Wellbeing College here.