Building a new Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing service that supports the needs of younger members of our community would not be possible without input from young people and their families, carers and supporters.
Acting on a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, Mel joined Peninsula Health in early 2023 to provide her expertise gained through lived experience and local, state and federal mental health initiatives to assist in establishing an expanded youth service.
“Co-design recognises that the system needs to give those it seeks to serve a voice in the decisions that impact them,” says Mel. “I joined Peninsula Health because I wanted to help implement change in mental health.”
“Being part of the Royal Commission implementation era at an evolving Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing service is a once in a professional lifetime opportunity,” she adds.
As a Senior Youth Consumer Consultant, Mel helps to ensure that young people and their families, carers and supporters not only know about the implementation of key recommendations from the Royal Commission but shape it and ground it in our local region.
From coordinating workshops to designing and delivering training, Mel draws on the stories, ideas and solutions shared by our community to help lay the foundations for new and improved services at Peninsula Health.
Mel brings people together from all walks of life, backgrounds and experiences to plan and establish more caring and welcoming group spaces for the future.
“My role is to create spaces where all young people, and those who care for them, are invited, enabled and empowered to contribute as equals,” explains Mel.
“In my view it’s not meaningful engagement with lived/living-experience if the lived/living experience isn’t a reflection of the diversity of our communities.”
“Community members who’ve taken part represent all intersections, including neurodiverse, living with a disability, culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTQIA+ and First Nations people … all bring an incredible depth of insight,” says Mel.
Peninsula Health’s expanded Infant, Child and Youth Service will ensure younger people are listened to, heard and empowered whilst accessing mental health services care closer to home.
Peninsula Health is working in partnership with Monash Health to gradually transition child and adolescent services throughout 2023-24. There is opportunity to be a part of this expansion.
If you’re looking to grow your career in Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing, see what opportunities await you at www.peninsulahealth.org.au/careers.