consumer day is back!
monday 18 august
Join us for discussions, connection, and inspiration at the Consumer Workforce Forum ahead of The Collab 2025.
Last year, we heard from influential Lived Experience leaders discussing key topics like the meaning of ‘risk’ and ‘duty of care.’ We also witnessed the launch of the Abolitionist Perspectives Report and learned how it came to life. Consumer LEW members shared stories of their work, and we engaged in a thought-provoking panel on the challenges and opportunities of mental health reform.
This year’s conference theme, Consumer Workforce Forum – Our Discipline, Our Knowledge, Our Strength, emphasises the power, resilience and invaluable expertise of our community.
At this event, the CAP team will be thrilled to celebrate with you the upcoming launch of the Consumer Lived Experience Workforce Discipline Framework (Victoria) in March 2025 and talk a bit about how we got there. This milestone represents a significant step forward for our workforce, acknowledging and celebrating the unique contributions of the lived experience workforce.
Let’s come together to honour our discipline, amplify our voices, and chart a bold path forward as we continue to shape and strengthen the consumer lived experience workforce.
Marvel Stadium
The Danvers Room, Gate 6, Level 2
location
The Collab Pre-Event Consumer Day is back — with a new name and hopefully an even bigger impact! Introducing the Consumer Workforce Forum – a dedicated space for consumer workforce members to connect, share, and help shape the future of mental health care.
By Private Vehicle
•
Enter Car Park Entry C,D, E via Wurundjeri Way or
•
Bourke Street carpark entry A (down ramp)
•
Bourke Street carpark entry B (up ramp)
•
Proceed inside toward Gate 6
•
Take the lift to Level 2
By Taxi
•
Direct the taxi to stop on the Latrobe Street side of the venue
•
Walk towards the venue (Gate 7) and turn to your left, proceeding to Gate 6 for entry
•
Take the lift to Level 2and follow the signs to the Danvers Room
By Train
•
Cross the Bourke Street Pedestrian Bridge from Southern Cross Station
•
When you get to Marvel Stadium, turn to your right, proceeding to Gate 6 for entry
•
Take the lift to Level 2 and follow the signs to the Danvers Room
By Tram
• The Bourke Street, Collins Street, Latrobe Street and City Circle trams can be utilised to get to Marvel Stadium. Please refer to the map once you arrive at the precinct to determine the direction you need to travel around the venue to get to the Gate 6 for entry.
how to find your way to the danvers room
By Private Vehicle
•
Enter Car Park Entry C,D, E via Wurundjeri Way or
•
Bourke Street carpark entry A (down ramp)
•
Bourke Street carpark entry B (up ramp)
•
Proceed inside toward Gate 6
•
Take the lift to Level 2
By Taxi
•
Direct the taxi to stop on the Latrobe Street side of the venue
•
Walk towards the venue (Gate 7) and turn to your left, proceeding to Gate 6 for entry
•
Take the lift to Level 2and follow the signs to the Danvers Room
By Train
•
Cross the Bourke Street Pedestrian Bridge from Southern Cross Station
•
When you get to Marvel Stadium, turn to your right, proceeding to Gate 6 for entry
•
Take the lift to Level 2 and follow the signs to the Danvers Room
By Tram
• The Bourke Street, Collins Street, Latrobe Street and City Circle trams can be utilised to get to Marvel Stadium. Please refer to the map once you arrive at the precinct to determine the direction you need to travel around the venue to get to the Gate 6 for entry.
Ted will provide us with an opportunity to listen to the knowledge formed from their years of leadership in the workforce and their intersectional perspectives and see how it can transform our ways of knowing, being and doing.
Ted is a proud Tagalaka and Taepithiggi person – a Queer, Neurodivergent, and First Nations person from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Far North Queensland. He has lost many loved ones to suicide, including his brother, and is a suicide survivor himself. He brings the heart of his lived experience and systems expertise into his work as a senior public servant, striving to make systems kinder and more just for marginalised communities. His career spans social policy, criminal justice, justice reform, mental health, and Aboriginal self-determination, alongside a strong pursuit of knowledge and understanding across law, sociology, gender, sexuality, and feminism.
Ted’s perspective on mental health is that First Peoples’ experiences are grounded in wellbeing yet shaped by a lived experience of systemic exclusion through cultural and racial marginalisation, identity politics, colonial definitions, and community dynamics. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often experience poorer mental health outcomes, yet we are seen anecdotally adjacent to consumer and carer movements – movements that move on stolen land.
Having held multiple identified and designated roles working from lived experience, Ted has navigated challenges that impact social and emotional wellbeing and extend beyond the mental health sector. First Peoples are oppressed by multiple competing social theories – from the historical, political, cultural, and social determinants of mental health to the ways Aboriginal people assert, negotiate, and defend identity while navigating survival, recognition, and sovereignty.
From Treaty to the Voice, connection to culture, adverse childhood experiences, intergenerational trauma, racism, and homophobia - not all First Peoples lead from the same perspective, and not all of us hold cultural authority. Yet many of us employ our Lived Expertise every day, across contexts, and it all ties back to wellbeing. We are leaders doing leadership, often under different names, like ‘obligation’ and ‘responsibility’. If we ask, “What do Aboriginal folk need to be leaders?”, we must also ask, “What must be dismantled so Aboriginal folk can lead?”
Our Discipline, Our Knowledge, Our Strength is something we define and employ individually and collectively, but it’s not confined to the public mental health system.
Ted Johnston takes an intersectional approach, unpacking and reflecting on First Peoples + Lived Experience + Lived Expertise + Wellbeing.
Tagalaka | Taepithiggi | Intersectional Advisory & Advocacy | First Peoples + Lived Experience + Lived Expertise + Wellbeing
ted johnston
keynote
We’re alpaca-ing a whole lot of excitement into this announcement — Eila is joining us at the Collab Consumer Workforce Forum!
Since 2008, Eila has been a dedicated leader in the Consumer Perspective Workforce, working across peer roles, consultancy, governance, education and more. Now a Workforce Development Coordinator, she continues to support and strengthen the sector across Victoria.
Eila's journey began with a leap of faith — and a whole lot of heart. Since then, she’s grown alongside some of the most inspiring Consumer Perspective practitioners and community members across Victoria.
When she’s not championing workforce development, Eila’s happiest in regional Victoria with her beloved furry crew of cats, sheep… and yes, alpacas. We are thrilled to have Eila presenting at this years event.
eila lyon
keynote
program
9:30am Doors open,
registration begins
10am Welcome to the event
and Welcome to Country
10:20am Major sponsor
introduction: VMIAC
10:35am Keynote presentation:
Ted Johnston
11am Consumer workforce presentation
11:20am Morning tea
11:50am Consumer workforce presentations
12:10pm Panel: Introduction to
the Mental Health Consumer Lived Experience Workforce Discipline Framework
12:35pm Lunch
1:35pm Consumer workforce presentations
2:15pm Keynote presentation:
Eila Lyon
2:45pm Afternoon tea
3:05pm Consumer workforce presentations
3:35pm Introduction of The Collective for LE Professional Development
by Vrinda Edan
3:50pm Wrap up, goodbyes
The Consumer Workforce Forum is proudly sponsored by
