Learning from the lived experience

Professor Renata Kokanović will reflect on the importance of a resource such as Healthtalk Australia to support people experiencing mental health concerns, their families, but also to raise awareness of mental health and the importance of empathy in the community. The collection of health and illness narratives on Healthtalk Australia is a particularly powerful mechanism for doing this. The use of individual, personal narratives allow people to share their health and illness experiences in their own words, which provides a rich context and in-depth understanding that is unavailable from other sources.

Renata is the Director of the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT University, and is a Professor of Health Sociology. She leads a research group focused on exploring mental health concerns, including people with lived experience of mental distress and their families supporting them. Renata also researches the perspectives of mental health care providers to increase understanding about how mental health care is delivered in the context of the broader health system. She collaborates with a wide range of industry partners, including government, not-for-profit organisations that support people with mental health concerns, and people with lived experience to co-produce digital health resources. Renata has received significant funding from a wide range of government and industry sources including Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, National Mental Health Commission, Victorian Department of Health, and others.