Living with and supporting mental illness is not easy. Services can be challenging to access, emergencies can happen often, and loved ones may not fully understand how it feels to walk in your shoes. Not everyone knows what it is like to live this life. If you have walked the walk of children's mental health, you have experience that can help transform the system for good!
Your Experience (And Your Story) Matters
Agency professionals need help recognizing why programs and services don't work, and need thoughtful advice on how to make things better for families. Your unique experience gives you the opportunity to inspire change in the mental health system by sharing how services, programs, and systems actually play out. You are more than a number or statistic- your personal story and unique perspective is the key to improving the children's mental health system.
Training & Support for Lived Experience Leaders
Anyone with lived experience has a story to tell and unique perspective to share. You are not alone in having the passion and personal experience to effect change to the children's mental health system.
Many trainings and resources exist to help prepare you to share your story and collaborate with agency or coalition leaders. The following resources are provided to help anyone who has lived experience hone their skills to be a leader.
This page is regularly updated. Please send along resources you find helpful to OCMH@wisconsin.gov.
Worksheet for Family Leaders
This is a great starting point! This reflective tool helps those with lived experience consider their work with professional partners, and offers many examples of how they can get involved to make changes.
Person-First Language Guide
Words matter. This guide offers alternatives to common phrases in order to be strength-based and person-centered.
Up To Me Training
https://wisewisconsin.org/honest-open-proud/
Workbook for parents or young people who identify as having lived experience with mental health to formulate their personal story and consider when, where, and with whom to share their story.
How To Tell Your Story
https://familyvoiceswi.org/knowledge-base/how-to-tell-your-story/
There is a lot that goes behind telling a personal story to make policy or system change. This resource offers clear guidance on how to prepare a story to hopefully convince decision makers that change is needed.
Serving on Groups
www.Servingongroups.org
Guidebook to support individuals participating in decision-making groups to understand the dynamics and be most effective as an advocate.
Giving Feedback as the Voice of Lived Experience
Analyzing policy or written tools is a great way for lived experience leaders to use their expertise. This guide provides a framework and suggestions for how to most effectively give feedback on written materials.
Core Competencies for Family Leaders
Looking for how else you improve your skills? On pages 12-15, this guide provides a list of recommended competencies for people with lived experience.
Individual Effectiveness Plan for Parent Leaders in Advisory Positions- PACER Center
Take this self-assessment to see where you can continuing growing as a lived experience leader.
If you have difficulty accessing our materials, or using our website, please let us know by emailing OCMH@wi.gov. We take digital accessibility seriously and welcome the opportunity to remove any barriers in accessing content.