Book of Proceedings: Stories of Recovery

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By April 15, 2020 No Comments

Authors: Peter White, Joy Laloli

Year: 2019

Event: 2019 TheMHS Conference

Subject: book of proceedings

Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers

ISBN: 9780994570260

Abstract: Paper from the 2019 TheMHS Conference by Peter White and Joy Laloli. Published as part of the 2019 Book of Proceedings.

Biography:

Joy Laloli has a lived experience of schizophrenia, has volunteered and worked at Flourish since 2014. Joy has studied Millinery, Fashion, Hospitality and Art at Newcastle TAFE, participating in a group exhibition at the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery in 2017. She has hopes and dreams off living a creative life.

Peter White has been diagnosed with reactive depression and anxiety. He has survived multiple physical and emotional traumas, from being hit by a bus to being bullied and harassed in the workplace. He is presently doing what he can to overcome these limitations and challenges, so he can achieve recovery.

As members of Flourish Australia, Newcastle we have been attending Flourish services for several years, which has greatly assisted our wellbeing and recovery opportunities. We have a lived experience of schizophrenia, anxiety and depression although we do not let diagnosis define or stop us!

Whilst we have similarities in our recovery stories we each have very unique personal experiences and needs. We would like to discuss how these shared experiences with Flourish have become our proud life stories of resilience and hope.

From a client perspective, Flourish has been a positive and beneficial experience on so many levels; from completely valuing our lived experience, managing our physical wellbeing and along with the effectiveness of the programs and support the organisational staff provide has all assisted us on a course which goes beyond the achievements of recovery and wellbeing, to expanding our education goals and increasing meaningful employment opportunities. Last year we completed a Cert II in Hospitality and we are currently enrolled in the Cert III Hospitality.

Flourish has enabled us to regain hope in claiming a positive future and has been a game changer to our lives as life would’ve been much more challenging without Flourish and its individuals.

Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: Learning how to run services from the perspective of people with a lived experience
Learning Objective 2: How services and communities can best facilitate and support a relevant ‘personcentred’ approach towards recovery, fostering hope and strengthening resilience in individuals who then contribute to building a healthier community.

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