As part of Juno’s commitment to increasing the meaningful inclusion of lived and living experience perspectives, we work closely with a group of lived experience advisers through the Housing Safety Project and Lived Experience Advisory Group.
A key part of this work is actively supporting and promoting opportunities for advisers to participate in consultations, contribute to project design, and engage with public speaking opportunities such as forums, conferences, community events, and media interviews.
Our work with lived experience advisers is guided by Safe and Equal’s Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework and The Constellation Project’s Lived Experience Practice Framework.
Lived and living experience is the knowledge gained through direct, first-hand experiences of homelessness or housing stress, family violence, and gendered poverty and how these experiences are shaped by intersecting identities and structural inequalities. This also recognises the insights gained through navigating support systems, including the barriers, gaps, and factors that affect safety, access and quality of support received.
Lived experience advisers are individuals who choose to share their insights with the intention of improving and advancing systems, services, and structures so they better respond to the needs of those experiencing homelessness, family violence, and gendered poverty.
Meaningfully embedding lived and living experience in policy and program design leads to stronger, more effective outcomes, and “often brings distinct insights, lateral thinking skills, and creative approaches that are commonly missing in conventional policy-making and service design” (The Constellation Project, 2023). This can help ensure services are relevant, responsive, and accountable to the communities they impact. In addition, centring lived and living experience can assist in addressing power imbalances that exist between those who implement projects, policies, and programs, and those who are impacted by them.
Adapted from the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, the following are 5 levels of engagement that projects can have when working with people with lived experience. Each level increases the capacity for Lived Experience influence and the extent to which power is shifting from organisations to participants. We encourage all requests to consider providing opportunities for greater levels of engagement/participation when capacity allows and necessary supports are in place to ensure safe participation for advisers.
- Inform (No power): Sharing information with lived experience advisers about services, strategies, and events and how we understand the problem and options available. This includes providing clear and objective information to support people with lived and living experience to make sense of the situation and possible solutions (e.g. newsletter updates, information sessions, events).
- Consult (Minimal power): Lived experience advisers provide feedback on material, projects, or services. This involves sharing information, receiving concerns and aspirations, implementing feedback and disseminating the results (e.g. feedback surveys or interviews, focus groups or workshops, reviewing and contributing to policies, procedures, resources).
- Involve (Some power): Working intentionally and directly with lived experience advisers to ensure the voice, aspirations and concerns of people with lived experience are considered, listened to and understood (e.g. evaluation, recruitment panels, story-telling and case studies).
- Collaborate (Shared power): Lived experience advisers are involved in making decisions, with shared responsibilities and accountabilities (e.g co-design activities, strategy and planning, training co-design and delivery, governance groups).
- Lived Experience Led (Full control): Priorities and actions are determined by lived experience advisers who make the final decision (e.g. board and leadership representation, peer-led programs and services, media and advocacy, project design, development, and delivery).
Organisations should develop a clear understanding of how people with lived and living experience are being invited to participate and the level of influence and authority that they will possess within the engagement. It is important that this is clearly articulated to people with lived and living experience prior to engaging them.
- Providing feedback and advice on organisational policy, procedures, and program design to strengthen safety, accessibility and inclusion (Consult).
- Speaking at community events to raise awareness of family violence and homelessness and reduce stigma by challenging myths and misconceptions through storytelling and education (Involve).
- Contributing to panels at forums and conferences, sharing expertise, ideas, and advocating for systemic change (Collaborate).
- Co-designing a pilot project to ensure it is informed by lived experience and effectively responds to the needs and priorities of the communities it is designed to support (Collaborate).
- Media opportunities such as participating in interviews for print media, radio, television or podcasts (Lived Experience Led).
- Leading the design, development, and delivery of a peer support group to increase community connection (Lived Experience Led).
To ensure proper recognition for their expertise, lived experience advisers must be financially compensated for their time, contributions, and expenses for all levels of engagement. In addition, in recognition of the financial barriers that exist for participation, it is expected that costs incurred during engagement (e.g. childcare, parking, and travel) and accessibility costs (e.g. aides, interpreters, and transportation) are reimbursed. Following submission of this form, a quote will be issued based on level of engagement, time commitment, and any additional resourcing necessary.
Lived Experience Engagement Request Form
To engage lived experience advisers through Juno, please complete the following form: Lived Experience Engagement Request Form. If you would prefer to discuss your request before submitting the form, please email an outline of your idea and your preferred contact details to .
