Earlier this year, the College took an important step by launching its Lived and Living Experience Strategy - and creating dedicated lived and living experience roles for the first time.

Sam Farr has joined as the College’s first Lived and Living Experience Senior Adviser (Consumer). After his own journey as a consumer in New Zealand, Sam became a mental health practitioner before moving into service design and systems change. He is known for bridging the gap between big ideas and what can be achieved and driving steady improvements with a collaborative approach. Through this role, he hopes to show how lived experience leadership can strengthen psychiatry now and for the future. 

Kirsty Rosie has joined as the College’s first Lived and Living Experience Senior Adviser (Carer). Drawing on her own experiences as a carer, Kirsty has worked across Victoria’s mental health system in both community advisory and service improvement roles. At Monash Health, she contributed to governance work focused on making services better for families. She is passionate about embedding carer perspectives in psychiatry and using this role to drive meaningful, lasting change.

These new roles were created to help turn the Strategy into action and ensure lived and living experience genuinely shapes psychiatry across Australia and New Zealand.

In their day-to-day work, Sam and Kirsty will support the implementation of the Strategy, provide leadership and advice from a lived experience perspective, and help improve how the College involves its community members.

We hope College members and staff will work with them to explore how lived and living experience can add real value to the College’s work and strengthen psychiatry as a whole. This is just the beginning, but it is an important step forward.

Got thoughts or ideas? You can help us shape how we embed lived and living experience in our work by sharing your thoughts with us.