Back in 1985, the founding parents of this organisation demonstrated great foresight and commitment. Enshrined in the original constitution, and maintained today, is the requirement that the Board and therefore the Governance of the organisation must be in the hands of “lived experience”. The voice of “lived experience” must inform everything we do. We have taken that further and have consistently had between 75% and 80% of our paid workforce being people with “lived experience”.
In recent times governments have caught up with this concept. One place where it is becoming more important is in the area of research. Governments want researchers to be informed by that voice of “lived experience”. That is why this year’s Australian Psychosis Conference is so important.
There is time, just enough time, to still register for the Australian Psychosis Conference to be held at the NSW Masonic Centre, 66 Goulburn Street Sydney, 14th to 16th September. This will be a landmark conference as it intends to bring together some of the world’s and Australia’s premier researchers into psychosis with consumers and carers.
One of the keynote speakers is Patrick Corrigan, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Patrick was Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago where he directed its Centre on Psychiatric Rehabilitation. His research examines psychiatric disability and the impact of stigma on recovery and rehabilitation. Currently, he is principal investigator of the National Consortium for Stigma and Empowerment.
Another is well known to our members, Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert is the NSW Chair of Schizophrenia Research; a Professor at the School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales and is a National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) Principal Research Fellow. She leads a translational research program at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) that uses insights from the molecular and cellular neuropathology of schizophrenia to identify novel treatments for people with schizophrenia and contributes to the running of clinical trials.
Both Patrick and Cyndi will also be speaking at the free public meeting to be held at the Masonic Centre on the evening of Thursday 13th September along with other Conference speakers. Both the conference and the public meeting are being organised by the Psychosis Australia Trust and our own Professor Anthony Harris, Chair of One Door, is the Convenor. Don’t miss this opportunity! To register, go to:
www.apc2018.com.au
Rob Ramjan AM | CEO