Mind Australia’s new Youth Lived Experience Advisory Team (Youth LEAT) will ensure the voices of young people with lived experience are heard, and their ideas shape the design and delivery of Mind’s services.
The new Youth LEAT comprises young people (aged 16 to 24 years) with a lived or living experience of mental health challenges. The advisory group also includes young people who support their family and friends.
The Youth LEAT will focus on young people and the challenges specific to them. They will work on advocacy projects, service design and delivery, recruitment and selection processes and lend their expertise to help make decisions at all levels of the organisation.
Katie from North Brisbane is a former Mind Step Up Step Down service user and now a member of the Youth LEAT. The 21-year-old was also part of the Youth LEAT’s design and development team, and was previously a member of Mind’s original general Lived Experience Advisory Team (LEAT).
Katie says being part of the Youth LEAT is an opportunity to use her own personal experience of mental health challenges to make a difference.
“I love being part of Mind’s LEAT, and youth mental health is something I’m passionate about. Being in the Youth LEAT is an opportunity to connect with young people and discuss the issues that we face as a youth cohort, such as school, relationships and social media,” Katie said.