SPEAKERS

Tharindu Jayadeva (Lived/Living Experience Participation Lead, Alfred Mental and Addiction Health) and
Lauren Wraight (Consumer Consultant, Strategy and Planning, Alfred Mental and Addiction Health).

Topic

How do we co-create public mental health services that centre community voice, uphold dignity, and enable trust? In this seminar, Tharindu Jayadeva and Lauren Wraight explore relational co-design and participation as core practices in systems change — not just strategies for service improvement, but social justice tools for reshaping how we work, relate, and build futures together.

Drawing from lived experience leadership and peer-informed practice, this session will explore how co-design can be a force for cultural and organisational transformation when grounded in relationships, integrity, and equity. Lauren and Tharindu will share insights from their work building a Co-Design Collaborative and lived experience participation frameworks in Victoria’s public mental health sector, inviting reflection on civic participation, relational ethics, and the healing potential of community-driven change. The seminar will also offer reflections on alternative models to traditional advisory structures for building co-owned, regenerative, and trauma-responsive service cultures.

Together, we’ll ask: What does it take to create services where people feel safe, seen, and involved in decisions that affect them? How do we move beyond extractive participation into relationships of mutual accountability and care? And how can we, as a workforce across disciplines and perspectives, begin to practice the futures we long for — ones marked by hope, dignity, and collective repair?

This session will include a short formal presentation, followed by space for shared conversation and Q&A.

About the speakers

Tharindu Jayadeva (he/him) has a background in public health and community engagement, and strives to work towards more collaborative and relational care practices. He has designed, delivered, evaluated and advised on mental health projects at local, national and international organisations, including at community and public mental health services.

From delivering workshops guided by lived experience voice, to leading community activations for participatory systemic change, Tharindu works to bring collaboration, empathy and respect into conversations about mental health system reform. His interests in co-design, health promotion and community participation are informed by years of working alongside his community and peers to listen, learn and unlearn, and his own experiences navigating the mental health system. Tharindu wishes to showcase the power of community in decision-making and service development, and highlights the roles we can all play in creating equitable spaces to thrive within now and into the future.

Lauren (she/they) is a disabled and neuroqueer survivor advocate and Consumer Consultant at Alfred Mental and Addiction Health. They work to strengthen co-design, embed consumer participation, and foster trauma-responsive, care-centred cultural transformation. Their practice blends intentional peer support, care ethics, and relational approaches to strategy, governance, and service planning. As a survivor advocate with Left Write Hook, Lauren has contributed to participatory research, co-produced a book of survivor stories, and featured in an award-winning documentary, championing creative, body-based approaches to healing from child sexual abuse. They are committed to building inclusive communities and systems that honour the full humanity and wisdom of people navigating trauma, recovery, and mental health challenges.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

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