Published 29 October 2026
Words by Kevin
The view from the podium is different. Somehow, you see more while being focused on less. You see others while being hyper aware of yourself. You see words on a page and strive to give them meaning.
Last week, I had the opportunity to chair the Transforming Mental Health Conference in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and it was to offer me a new platform and perspective for two days. At first glance, I could see a large room and a lot of people, but I was focused on what I wanted to say. I could see the words, but could I make sense of them to the range of expertise in the room?
As the CEO for a Lived Experience organisation, my lead and contribution as the conference chairperson was to put people first, within system and service considerations. The issues and the discussions are much bigger than one person. Everybody at the conference was active in transformation.
I am passionate about the collective voice of Lived Experience from within communities. I am clear we cannot transform mental health and addiction without consideration of experience. Every issue affects people with Lived Experience—every solution must include Lived Experience.
So, with raised voice from the conference platform, I could share key learning and set a marker from Changing Minds’ engagements with community. We have heard that Lived Experience communities want systems and services that:
Go beyond mental health and addiction to include physical health, social support, and spaces that give hope.
Create options that show possibility with choices that support and-and decisions.
Recognise people’s expertise and knowledge of needs, to include overcoming inequity, and the absurd experiences of systems’ need to ‘prove’ illness or wellness.
Build equal relationships based on empathy, welcome, and feeling safe. Use community-based support and connect to others on similar journeys. Challenge prejudice and discrimination.
I shared how we can do this with Lived Experience, asking conference delegates to consider:
The pathways for Lived Experience communities to participate in their work.
How communities can engage to build relationships and learn together.
The importance given to people experience of all interaction.
What a privilege—from the platform, I could set expectation, challenge performance, and stand back to observe. And, as conference chairperson, I had the responsibility to listen and to join up what I heard, to connect key themes and facilitate discussion. It seems that holding the mic forces reflection.
I could see so much. I could see one room with a collective interest. Together, presenters and audience alike were painting a picture we could see together, a commitment to connect, coordinate, collaborate, in conversation, with community, being curious, contributing competently and with confidence. Do you ‘c’?
From the conference, I could see transformation through three lenses:
System lens that shows us what matters most.
Service lens where we show people that we care.
People lens where we see beliefs, experience, and expectations.
These lenses need to be equal in their strength and used by us all. We need to reflect on what we see through all lenses—to see our work in context of people’s experiences and all system parts, and to see our personal and collective contribution as people working with others for better mental health and addiction response.
We all get to hold the mic and to choose how we use it. I learned we can use it to be heard and to see.