Nayonika’s story
Nayonika is a member of the Lived-Experience Working Group (LEWG), working with the Youth Mental Health team to help give voice to lived experience across multiple demographics for a more holistic inclusion in research and clinical care.
LEWG's mission is to bridge the gaps in lived-experience and clinical care.
Dealing with several mental health problems, Nayonika had trouble finding a therapist who understood and empathised with her struggles. She suffered from depression, sleep deprivation and anxiety and found that the conversations with therapists were circular and support was being thrown at her, but not in a co-design way.
As a member of the LGBQT+ community, Nayonika struggled with coming out to her friends and family. When she was looking for support, her therapist suggested cutting off her ties to them. As a migrant living and working in a foreign country, her ties to her community and culture were more important than ever, so cutting ties was not an option. It would have forced her to isolate herself from everything she knew and was defined by. It was also a struggle to talk with the cultural community she had in Australia since talking about mental health held a stigma.
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I’ve gone from a circle of not knowing how to move forward and hitting rock bottom to being content and accepting myself and all of the versions of myself. I now have a better relationship with my family and I’m comfortable talking about my journey.
“It used to be quite unapproachable up until a few years ago. We live in an unsustainable community where these conditions exist and while progress has been made, this progress can sometimes be superficial and exhausting for the people who are just desperately seeking to be seen and loved in all the identities that make them who they are. ” Nayonika says.
Nayonika finally found a therapist she could work with, and she is now at a level where doctors trust her to experiment with her medication and find the right dosage for her ADHD.
This trust and communication did not happen overnight; by building a safe space for Nayonika to share her experience, her practitioners gave her the confidence to advocate for her own needs.
“There are many things we get wrong as practitioners seldom have lived experience interaction and do not understand what it is like on the other side. Being more comfortable in my skin and having practitioners who treated me with respect was a critical milestone in my well-being journey. This trust, communication and transparency has helped my relationship with the professionals to grow and has helped me on this journey.”
Lived Experience Working Group (LEWG)
The Brain & Mind Centre’s Lived Experience Working Group, a key part of The Youth Mental Health and Technology Team’s research streams, is committed to ensuring that the diverse voices of young people are not just heard, but actively contribute to research projects. The group works in various capacities such as consulting on new and existing projects, working closely with researchers to co-drive and lead research projects, and ensuring research outcomes and outputs meet the needs of young people.
Program leads
Samuel J Hockey