Resilience in Reach - Peer-led Workshops for Parents/Carers of Young People with Complex Mental Health
Tracks
Ballroom 2 - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, June 23, 2026 |
| 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM |
Overview
Karen McCann & Craig Stanley-Jones, Raising Minds
Presenter
Ms Karen McCann
Team Leader - Peer Facilitator Team
Raising Minds
Resilience in Reach - Peer-led Workshops for Parents/Carers of Young People with Complex Mental Health
Presentation Overview
The journey of parents, families, carers and kin of children/young people who have complex mental health conditions is often fraught with anxiety, anger, frustration, fear and a growing sentiment that things could be better…hopefully a great deal better. The experience of navigating the mental health system and other systems – including education, health, disability and justice led these parents to connect with other parents, families, carers and kin in the space. They all questioned whether the whole process of seeking support, finding services and talking to the right people at the right time in the right place, was as overwhelming and at times insurmountably as challenging for them as well.
In talking with other parents, families, carers and kin it was, and continues to be an overwhelming challenge to identify, engage and maintain the right supports in the right place at the right time.
With these experiences, a passionate and dedicated group of parents/families/carers/kin made the decision that an organisation was critically needed to drive this vision forward.
Raising Minds was founded in late 2022 with this vision in mind. Raising Minds engaged Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc in this vision with a successful tender application for what has now become Resilience in Reach (RiR) – currently a three-year-project that will deliver a series of free online and in-person workshops, to support parents/families/carers/kin to:
•be better able to navigate mental health, education, justice and disability systems, services and supports
•gain greater inclusion in local communities whilst gaining enhanced understanding of yours and your child’s/young person’ s needs and
•strengthen their own, their child’s/young person’s/family’s overall wellbeing and stability.
This initiative/workshops are co-designed and 100% peer-led to provide connection with others who understand and can provide authentic real-life strategies to deliver improved outcomes for families and their children/young people.
Three Key Learnings
1. Through utilising key partnerships, people have the power to use their voices and work together to enable improvements for mental health systems and services.
2. The impact of a 100% peer-led and lived experience perspective across a co-design process in project development.
3. Learn what parents/carers want to know about how they can better support their child/young person with complex mental health conditions, including service access, self-care, advocacy, effective communication strategies within clinical and educational settings, and responding to their child’s/young person’s distress.
In talking with other parents, families, carers and kin it was, and continues to be an overwhelming challenge to identify, engage and maintain the right supports in the right place at the right time.
With these experiences, a passionate and dedicated group of parents/families/carers/kin made the decision that an organisation was critically needed to drive this vision forward.
Raising Minds was founded in late 2022 with this vision in mind. Raising Minds engaged Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc in this vision with a successful tender application for what has now become Resilience in Reach (RiR) – currently a three-year-project that will deliver a series of free online and in-person workshops, to support parents/families/carers/kin to:
•be better able to navigate mental health, education, justice and disability systems, services and supports
•gain greater inclusion in local communities whilst gaining enhanced understanding of yours and your child’s/young person’ s needs and
•strengthen their own, their child’s/young person’s/family’s overall wellbeing and stability.
This initiative/workshops are co-designed and 100% peer-led to provide connection with others who understand and can provide authentic real-life strategies to deliver improved outcomes for families and their children/young people.
Three Key Learnings
1. Through utilising key partnerships, people have the power to use their voices and work together to enable improvements for mental health systems and services.
2. The impact of a 100% peer-led and lived experience perspective across a co-design process in project development.
3. Learn what parents/carers want to know about how they can better support their child/young person with complex mental health conditions, including service access, self-care, advocacy, effective communication strategies within clinical and educational settings, and responding to their child’s/young person’s distress.
Biography
Karen McCann has been a carer for family members for over 38 years, mostly around the support and advocacy for her children. Karen is mother to three adult children who accessed child and youth mental health services since 1988. She is also grandmother to five grandchildren, three of whom have had difficulty accessing child and youth mental health services, and despite having worked in the industry for over 23 years found it difficult to navigate mental health services and systems in the past five years. Employed with Mater CYMHS in 2002, she was one of the earliest peer/lived experience workers in Qld and through her own personal experiences, is acutely aware of the unique issues parents and families face with trying to access mental health support for their family. Karen also has an interest in the development and ongoing support of the lived/living experience workforce. Karen has co-authored several papers from the carer perspective and her experience spans local, statewide and national agendas for the improvement of access to services for both consumers and carers. Karen recently joined Raising Minds Ltd in the role of Team Leader – Peer Facilitation Team in April 2025.
Mr Craig Stanley-Jones
CEO
Raising Minds Ltd
Resilience in Reach - Peer-led Workshops for Parents/Carers of Young People with Complex Mental Health
Presentation Overview
The journey of parents, families, carers and kin of children/young people who have complex mental health conditions is often fraught with anxiety, anger, frustration, fear and a growing sentiment that things could be better…hopefully a great deal better. The experience of navigating the mental health system and other systems – including education, health, disability and justice led these parents to connect with other parents, families, carers and kin in the space. They all questioned whether the whole process of seeking support, finding services and talking to the right people at the right time in the right place, was as overwhelming and at times insurmountably as challenging for them as well.
In talking with other parents, families, carers and kin it was, and continues to be an overwhelming challenge to identify, engage and maintain the right supports in the right place at the right time.
With these experiences, a passionate and dedicated group of parents/families/carers/kin made the decision that an organisation was critically needed to drive this vision forward.
Raising Minds was founded in late 2022 with this vision in mind. Raising Minds engaged Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc in this vision with a successful tender application for what has now become Resilience in Reach (RiR) – currently a three-year-project that will deliver a series of free online and in-person workshops, to support parents/families/carers/kin to:
•be better able to navigate mental health, education, justice and disability systems, services and supports
•gain greater inclusion in local communities whilst gaining enhanced understanding of yours and your child’s/young person’ s needs and
•strengthen their own, their child’s/young person’s/family’s overall wellbeing and stability.
This initiative/workshops are co-designed and 100% peer-led to provide connection with others who understand and can provide authentic real-life strategies to deliver improved outcomes for families and their children/young people.
In talking with other parents, families, carers and kin it was, and continues to be an overwhelming challenge to identify, engage and maintain the right supports in the right place at the right time.
With these experiences, a passionate and dedicated group of parents/families/carers/kin made the decision that an organisation was critically needed to drive this vision forward.
Raising Minds was founded in late 2022 with this vision in mind. Raising Minds engaged Parent to Parent Association Qld Inc in this vision with a successful tender application for what has now become Resilience in Reach (RiR) – currently a three-year-project that will deliver a series of free online and in-person workshops, to support parents/families/carers/kin to:
•be better able to navigate mental health, education, justice and disability systems, services and supports
•gain greater inclusion in local communities whilst gaining enhanced understanding of yours and your child’s/young person’ s needs and
•strengthen their own, their child’s/young person’s/family’s overall wellbeing and stability.
This initiative/workshops are co-designed and 100% peer-led to provide connection with others who understand and can provide authentic real-life strategies to deliver improved outcomes for families and their children/young people.
Biography
For over 20 years, Craig has worked in government and community roles within the mental health sector, including roles within public and private clinical settings. Led and assisted in the development and implementation of community-managed mental health programs across Queensland including projects focusing on consumer participation, system reform and community sector leadership.
Since 2010, Craig has worked in senior management and executive roles, within the community managed mental health NGO sector. Craig’s lived experience together with his professional background led him to join with a group of passionate families and carers to establish and co-found Raising Minds Ltd.
