Activities & Breakout Sessions

Feedback gathered through surveys, consultations, and direct interactions has emphasised a clear priority for the lived and living experience (LLE) workforce: maintaining personal wellbeing. 

This focus reflects not only the demanding nature of LLE roles but also the vital connection between personal wellbeing, individual change, and the quality of support we provide to service users.

The LLE workforce faces unique challenges, including vicarious trauma, role ambiguity, funding instability, and navigating multidisciplinary teams where LLE workers may sometimes feel undervalued or misunderstood. These challenges highlight the need to integrate self-care practices as a fundamental aspect of our work.

In response to this feedback, the breakout room activities have been thoughtfully designed to educate and support wellbeing through creative and restorative practices. Activities such as creative writing, aromatherapy, ecstatic dance, art, and sound healing offer participants opportunities to express themselves, engage their senses, and foster meaningful connections with peers. These practices aim to build resilience, cultivate self-compassion, and strengthen our workforce’s ability to deliver safe, compassionate and effective support.

Alongside these sessions, HRVIC will also be running an engaging Naloxone training to inform and educate participants on overdose awareness and how naloxone can help us reduce the impacts caused.

  • Creative Writing and Storytelling

    Will be facilitated by Karen McKnight, an award-winning writer with many years of experience working with the lived and living experience community to explore their potential through writing. Her AOD/MH carer/supporter lived experience means she knows first-hand the therapeutic nature of writing and the power of sharing one’s story with peers and the wider community. This fun and nurturing session will provide you with a range of techniques to get you started on your writing journey.

  • Aromatherapy

    Will be led by Carmela Ciavarella, a qualified aromatherapist with 10 years of experience working in designated MH lived experience roles within diverse Mental Health service settings. Through this work, Carmela has delivered many aromatherapy, creative and meaningful activity groups to support participants. This invigorating session will take you through the process of making a coffee/sugar scrub, where you’ll be supported to nurture yourself, be creative, and connect with your senses.

  • Art Therapy

    Will be delivered by Duan Stevenson, qualified art therapist, peer worker and group facilitator whose work includes supporting individuals to understand and navigate emotional patterns and behaviours. This immersive session offers an opportunity to engage in a creative arts therapy from a peer perspective that promotes self-care and emotional well-being. Participants will also gain valuable insights into how these techniques can be shared with others or explored as a potential career pathway.

  • Sound Healing

    Will be facilitated by Gurvinder Kaur, a professional counsellor and passionate lived experience advocate who uses a range of modalities, including sound, to work with participants. Sound meditation and healing with instruments like singing bowls offer numerous benefits for both the mind and body. This session is designed to promote deep relaxation, helping to reduce stress and anxiety while enhancing overall well-being. The soothing vibrations of singing bowls facilitate a meditative state, allowing you to connect more deeply with your inner self.

  • Ecstatic Dance

    Will be facilitated by Madhu Henry - DJ, counsellor, dance therapist, and founder of Ecstatic Dance Melbourne. Emerging in 2000 in Hawaii, it has inspired a movement, a culture and a community that has spread across the world. Ecstatic dance combines the freedom of a DJ’d festival experience with the awareness of conscious dance practice. It is said to support physical, emotional, social and spiritual growth, bringing people together in celebratory ways, both as a moving meditation for the individual, and as a powerful collective, tribal experience.

  • Naloxone Training

    Will be facilitated by Jane Dicker from Harm Reduction Victoria (HRVic). This session focuses on how to recognise the signs of opioid overdose and how to respond using naloxone – the opioid reversal medication, in all its forms: Prenoxad® - an injectable multi-dose (in one syringe) or Nyxoid® - a single dose nasal spray.

Register here