Youth lived experience participation

Orygen Specialist Program is committed to working in partnership and consultation with our young people.

Our Youth Participation Program draws on the strength, experience and skills of young people who use the service by involving them in consultations and decision-making processes to drive service development and improvement.

Youth Participation empowers young people to advocate for themselves and their peers, and can have a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of those involved.

The valuable input, feedback and ideas from our young people has a positive impact on influencing change and improvements and helps to make the service more responsive to the needs of our clients.

Orygen Specialist Program's Youth Participation Program includes:

The Platform Team

Platform is comprised of young people who are either past or present clients of our service. These young people form a representative decision-making and consultation group who use their experience to offer feedback and contributions to the service across a broad range of areas including strategic planning, staff selection, research development, mental health promotion, resource development and clinical services.

The Peer Support Team

The peer support workers are a team of young people who are past clients of our service who now volunteer their time to support other young people experiencing a mental illness. They draw from their own experience to offer comfort, information, practical support and positive, recovery focused social interaction.

Peer support workers visit the Inpatient Unit in Footscray as well as arranged meetings with young people at our Parkville and Sunshine sites.

This team plays an integral role in assisting current clients on their recovery journey and helping them to feel hopeful about recovery and valued as individuals.

For more information about these programs and how to get involved, see the Client Hub section of this site or contact David McMaster (Region A Coordinator) on 9966 9100.