The recipients of the 2025 Mind Stratford Scholarship will develop an online resource that centres the power, resilience, and resourcefulness of people who have experienced forced medical intervention and psychiatric incarceration.
The free digital resource – named Surviving Cramond Mad Skills - to be developed by Stratford Scholarship recipients KJ Hepworth and Tabitha Lean will include text, images and activities. It is based on a zine KJ made, and will draw on their own experiences of inpatient stays and the work of the many and diverse communities that they represent.
KJ and Tabitha were selected from over 80 applicants for the scholarship, which Mind developed to honour Anthony Stratford’s immense contribution to the international lived experience movement and to continue his legacy.
Each year the $10,000 scholarship supports an emerging peer leader in Australia to complete a 12-month project that supports the mental health and wellbeing of people in their own and the broader community. The inaugural Stratford Scholarship was awarded to Mush McLoughlin in 2024.
“We are so grateful and honoured to stand on the shoulders of Anthony and Mush,” KJ said at the annual Mind Stratford Lecture at Parliament House, Sydney, where this year’s scholarship recipients were announced.
“Being awarded this scholarship provides us with funding to undertake transformative work in our communities that doesn’t just centre our stories, but centres our power to create change, which we hope will contribute to paving a pathway to our collective liberation.
“We aspire that the people who contribute see themselves, their resilience, and our collective power in the finished resource. We hope the resource stands up alongside those lovingly produced and generously shared by kindred groups such as Fireweed Collective, Sisters Inside, National Network of Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Calling Up Justice, and They/Swarm.”
Once developed, the digital resource will be shared with Federal and peak state bodies, relevant community groups and advocacy organisations, and uploaded to applicable online libraries and mental health resource repositories.
Presenting the scholarship, Mind CEO Gill Callister said the selection panel was looking for projects that challenge the status quo and drive new ways forward led by lived experience.
“The Stratford Scholarship and Stratford Lecture are significant initiatives for Mind, as they honour and celebrate Anthony Stratford’s legacy with the continued development of lived experience knowledge and excellence that was so core to his life and contribution,” Ms Callister said.
“We are proud to offer this opportunity in Anthony’s name that supports the advancement and development of emerging peer leaders. Congratulations, KJ and Tabitha - we can’t wait to see you bring your project to life.”
The 2025 Stratford Lecture featuring Helena Roennfeldt can be viewed in full on YouTube.
Pictured above from left: Mind Australia Board Chair Professor Allan Fels, 2025 Stratford Scholarship recipients KJ Hepworth and Tabitha Lean, and Mind Australia CEO Gill Callister.