Beyond The Other Side of The Mountain - Elevating The Family/ Carer Voice
Tracks
Marquis Room - In-Person Only
| Thursday, May 28, 2026 |
| 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM |
Overview
Karen McKnight, North East Metro Mental Health And Wellbeing Connect
Details
Three Key Learnings
1. Creative expression as therapeutic practice: Participants will gain insight into how structured creative writing programs can enhance family/carer wellbeing, reduce isolation, and foster meaning-making. The session will illustrate how non-clinical, arts-based approaches complement existing mental health and AOD support frameworks.
2. Amplifying marginalised voices to drive empathy and social change: Attendees will understand how storytelling platforms can empower family/carers, challenge stigma, and shift public and professional narratives around addiction, mental illness, and caregiving — generating evidence and momentum for policy and service reform.
3. A scalable model for community-based resilience and recovery: The presentation will outline a replicable framework for delivering and sustaining creative writing programs across diverse communities — demonstrating how the model can be adapted for recovery, trauma, youth wellbeing, and other lived experience groups while maintaining fidelity and impact.
1. Creative expression as therapeutic practice: Participants will gain insight into how structured creative writing programs can enhance family/carer wellbeing, reduce isolation, and foster meaning-making. The session will illustrate how non-clinical, arts-based approaches complement existing mental health and AOD support frameworks.
2. Amplifying marginalised voices to drive empathy and social change: Attendees will understand how storytelling platforms can empower family/carers, challenge stigma, and shift public and professional narratives around addiction, mental illness, and caregiving — generating evidence and momentum for policy and service reform.
3. A scalable model for community-based resilience and recovery: The presentation will outline a replicable framework for delivering and sustaining creative writing programs across diverse communities — demonstrating how the model can be adapted for recovery, trauma, youth wellbeing, and other lived experience groups while maintaining fidelity and impact.
Speaker
Ms Karen Mcknight
Writer / Workshop Leader
Access Health and Community
Beyond The Other Side of The Mountain - Elevating The Family/ Carer Voice
Abstract
Building on the presentation delivered at the 2025 VAADA Conference, 'Beyond The Other Side of the Mountain – Elevating the Family/Carer Voice' extends the North East Metro Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect's 'Therapeutic Creative Writing & Storytelling' program — a non-clinical, arts-based initiative supporting family/carers of people with addiction/mental health.
Grounded in evidence that creative expression enhances wellbeing, reduces distress, and fosters meaning-making (Stuckey & Nobel, 2010; Leckey, 2011), the program provides structured opportunities for reflection, storytelling, and peer connection. More than seventy participants have completed the four-week foundational workshop series, many forming self-sustaining writing groups that continue to meet independently, demonstrating strong community ownership and sustainability.
To maintain connection and deepen creative skill, we began facilitating monthly graduate groups meeting face-to-face at Melbourne’s City Library and online between sessions. Each month, participants analyse a published short story, explore craft and structure, and respond to themed prompts that transform lived experience into creative narrative. Through this process, family/carers rediscover a sense of identity beyond the caring role and experience renewed confidence, creativity and hope.
The next phase — an online short-story anthology — will showcase these works, providing a public platform for voices too often unheard. Research shows that platforming marginalised voices through storytelling fosters empathy, challenges stigma, and drives social change (Leavy, 2017; Meda Foundation, 2025). Early findings indicate the program not only enhances family/carer wellbeing but also benefits those they support, modelling healthy coping, empathy, and creative engagement within families affected by addiction/mental health.
By uniting lived experience, creative practice, and peer connection, this project demonstrates how storytelling can strengthen identity, sustain resilience, and transform how caring, recovery, and wellbeing are understood in our communities.
Grounded in evidence that creative expression enhances wellbeing, reduces distress, and fosters meaning-making (Stuckey & Nobel, 2010; Leckey, 2011), the program provides structured opportunities for reflection, storytelling, and peer connection. More than seventy participants have completed the four-week foundational workshop series, many forming self-sustaining writing groups that continue to meet independently, demonstrating strong community ownership and sustainability.
To maintain connection and deepen creative skill, we began facilitating monthly graduate groups meeting face-to-face at Melbourne’s City Library and online between sessions. Each month, participants analyse a published short story, explore craft and structure, and respond to themed prompts that transform lived experience into creative narrative. Through this process, family/carers rediscover a sense of identity beyond the caring role and experience renewed confidence, creativity and hope.
The next phase — an online short-story anthology — will showcase these works, providing a public platform for voices too often unheard. Research shows that platforming marginalised voices through storytelling fosters empathy, challenges stigma, and drives social change (Leavy, 2017; Meda Foundation, 2025). Early findings indicate the program not only enhances family/carer wellbeing but also benefits those they support, modelling healthy coping, empathy, and creative engagement within families affected by addiction/mental health.
By uniting lived experience, creative practice, and peer connection, this project demonstrates how storytelling can strengthen identity, sustain resilience, and transform how caring, recovery, and wellbeing are understood in our communities.
Biography
Karen McKnight is an award-winning writer, facilitator, and social justice advocate with a Master’s in Creative Writing and Literature. Drawing on her carer lived-experience, she created Therapeutic Creative Writing & Storytelling, a trauma-informed program for carers of people with addiction and mental health challenges. Her work fosters connection, resilience, and community through creative expression and has been presented at the 2025 VAADA Conference. Karen is the editor of The Other Side of the Mountain – Stories and Words by Carers, and is also Senior Workforce Development Facilitator – Family Carer Perspective at the Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
