Sincerely Survivor the Docuseries

Victoria’s broken mental health system has impacted many – felt by inpatients, communities and clinicians alike. Recommendations include a great need for lived experience leadership as we consider a future of inclusion for all. Community recovery from COVID 19 also presents a new invitation as to how we consider mental health integration and collective healing from past trauma.

This consumer led film will provide a platform for individuals with diverse experiences of mental health to share wisdom and insights, along with alternative community driven models of healing, in support of system transformation and community mental health awareness.

Mental health is becoming an increasing concern for communities and governments alike. Issues such as isolation, social fragmentation and now COVID place increased stress on our communities. We have seen through Victoria’s Royal Commission a need for reform.

Sincerely Survivor the Docuseries platforms individuals with lived experience of ‘mental illness’ as part of a journey towards collective healing. In this film we will advocate for consumer led systems, policy reform, human rights and enhanced community compassion.

– Bring greater awareness and compassion towards individuals experiencing mental distress.
– Provide a platform for the sharing of consumer perspective knowledges and wisdom and alternative models for healing.
– Create a tool for education for health care professionals both at universities and hospitals.
– Build greater community compassion and awareness around the very human experience of mental distress and in turn;
– Advocate for policy / systemic reform as diverse consumers find their voice and contribute to the future we all hope for.

Sincerely Survivor is born out of Hannah Friebel’s consumer lived experience with the mental health system. Ever since her involuntary inpatient admission in 2015, Hannah has been advocating for mental health from a lived experience perspective, and has pursued training in the arts, psychology and spiritual care – having also worked as a consultant across numerous public mental health services. For this project, we work closely with lived experience leaders in the mental health system, along with other mental health professionals including Allied Health professionals, Psychologists, and Psychiatrists to support a nuanced and reflexive discussion.

We are seeking partnership with the Department of Health, Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL) and the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), along with other consumer organisations and groups to leverage their expertise and knowledge.

Sincerely Survivor the Docuseries will link the lived experience of mental health Survivors with the widely held hope for mental health system transformation. Through holding space for the ways in which the Mental Health System has failed to account for lived experience, we are also shining a light for audiences on alternative expressions and modalities of healing. We aim to encourage the development of human centred design for the future of the mental health system, in turn promoting new relational models for practitioners, hospitals and policy makers alike. We seek to amplify the voices of consumer leaders and open pathways for the broader community hear from people with diverse lived experiences of mental health.