Authors: Ross Beckley, Veronique Moseley
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 Ross Beckley and Veronique Moseley. Published as part of the 2019 Book of Proceedings.
Biography:
Ross Beckley: A first responder with 20 years of frontline experience and diagnosed with PTSD, Ross speaks
from a Lived Experience perspective. In 2013, he and his partner launched Behind The Seen, presentations
and campaigns aimed at first responders and their families, leading to several meaningful collaborations
with researchers and community organisations.
Veronique Moseley has 25 years of experience as an AASW accredited social worker an is the co-founder of
Behind The Seen. As the partner of a first responder with PTSD she has a unique dual insight from both a
professional perspective and the lived experience perspective.
Programs which address mental health work on a continuum – from conception to evidence base to
practice – and that continuum involves several roles including those with lived experience, practitioners and
researchers.
Comments such as: “Researchers are textbook nerds living in their ivory tower” “On the ground
practitioners just don’t see the bigger picture” and ”those with lived experience simply don’t understand
the need for an evidence base” are unfortunately still common reflections during private conversations.
Maintaining negative stereotypical views about each other’s roles diminishes our capacity for effective
collaboration. This presentation will remind the audience of each role’s unique strengths and acknowledge
each role’s systemic constraints in order to quell some of the myths that still live on in “careless whispers”
between workers in the sector and highlight ways in which the sector can build more effective, respectful
and resilient relationships to ensure streamlined responses to the issues faced by those with mental health
issues.
The presentation is delivered by Ross Beckley, a past serving decorated firefighter with PTSD and his partner
Veronique Moseley, an accredited social worker. Their experience is based on 5 years of work (from both
lived experience and practitioner perspectives) with a range of stakeholders to heighten awareness of
mental health and reduce the suicide rate among emergency services responders.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: The audience will learn from a practical perspective what obstacles stand in the way of
meaningful collaborations between those with lived experience, practitioners and researchers, and what
strategies and strengths can be used to overcome those obstacles.
Learning Objective 2: To improve mental health services along the continuum of prevention to intervention
to postvention we must address some of the real-life obstacles to meaningful collaboration between
different stakeholders in the mental health arena.
References
1. Suomi, B. Freeman, M Banfield Centre for Mental Health Research, ANU, (2016) Framework for the
engagement of people with a lived experience in program implementation and research Final Report for
LifeSpan
2. NSW Mental Health Commission. (2018). Lived Experience Framework For NSW
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