Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change

Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change

This World Mental Health Day, we're hosting a special webinar focusing on the selected theme “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change." We will discuss how people with lived experience can be meaningfully engaged in shaping mental health policy, services and practice. Bringing together experts by experience from three continents, and representatives from the World Health Organisation, World Federation for Mental Health and United for Global Mental Health, we will explore practical examples of meaningful participation and consider what is needed to ensure lived experience is not simply heard, but has genuine influence over decisions and drives lasting change.

The webinar will also mark the launch of the WHO’s Supporting the transition to community-based mental health and social care: practical guide to the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric hospitals. The discussion will explore what deinstitutionalisation means for the rights and dignity of people living with mental health conditions, and how the guide can support the transition from institutional care towards rights-based, person-centred mental health and social care in the community. Panellists will reflect on the core principles that can inform this transformation and the vital role of people with lived experience in shaping and delivering it.