Dr Snita Ahir-Knight is a trained child and adolescent therapist, social worker and university lecturer with more than 15 years’ experience working in the not-for-profit, community, and mental health sectors. This is the second in a series of written pieces for Changing Minds and here she shares how she turned her Lived Experience into productive change in the workplace.

Dr Snita Ahir-Knight is a trained child and adolescent therapist, social worker and university lecturer with more than 15 years’ experience working in the not-for-profit, community, and mental health sectors. This is the first in a series of written pieces for Changing Minds where she shares her Lived Experience of ‘living with madness and a differently wired brain’.

We are aware of media articles this morning about a young person who was wrongfully identified by police and service providers and later restrained and given medication.
This story hurts deeply. Last month we sat before Health Select Committee and shared our community vision for a transformation wellbeing system, and the deep disappointment we have heard from the community that the Mental Health Bill will not substantially change experiences for Tāngata Mātau ā-wheako (people with Lived Experience of mental distress, addiction or substance use);  and does not uphold our obligations to the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

Rose is 10 years into her recovery journey, after decades of gambling harm. When she first reached out to services, it was more around addiction and mental health support, rather than gambling harm. 'I didn't recognise my own gambling addiction,' Rose says, 'because gambling had been so normalised throughout my life.’

Share your Lived Experience with Changing Minds to help inform the final Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-2029.

This year Changing Minds partnered with Tall Tree Jared Flitcroft (Ngāti Maniapoto) of JPF Films, to deliver a Deaf Video series - by and for the Deaf community. This series is designed to raise awareness around mental distress, and the particular challenges faced by the Deaf that other resources have missed.

Increasingly, Changing Minds is involved in discussions about Digital Mental Health. Most often these are positive discussions of opportunity, shared by Government agencies and service providers, and including commitment to understanding Lived Experience needs. But, says our CEO Kevin, "I see potential challenges and missed opportunity."

At the end of July, Changing Minds' CEO Chief Enabler Kevin Harper chaired the Transforming Mental Health Conference in Auckland, taking our community voice direct to the conversation about mental health, and bringing a ‘people perspective’ to the forefront.

As a writer and actor, Lisa sees theatre as having a pivotal part to play in shining a light on areas of society that are frequently hidden or covered up, like mental distress and well-being. "Not talking about an issue doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist," she says. "Bringing it out into the open is the first step towards understanding."

Sarah Rowland is a co-founder and co-chair of EDCS NZ, the Eating Disorders Carer Support network, and a proud Tall Tree, after completing the Rākau Roroa online training this year.

In June, Te Hiringa Mahara (the Mental Health & Wellbeing Commission) released their 2024 Mental Health & Addiction Services Monitoring Report: Kua Tīmata Te Haerenga | The Journey Has Begun.

In May, Changing Minds joined the RANZCP (Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists) and other mental health organisations in urging the Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey and the Coalition Government to invest in Aotearoa New Zealand’s mental health system.