Through our pioneering ‘Being Herd’ program, batyr has trained over 1200 young mental health advocates to share their stories. Until recently, the outcomes from the Being Herd program have been measured in simple terms, focused on building confidence. However, the observed outcomes by batyr facilitators have always suggested deeper and potentially life-changing outcomes for young people taking part in the program. The Being Herd program provides the space, support, and validation that can help young people reframe their own experiences and give them the motivation to use what they have been through for good.

Approach:
In 2023, batyr undertook a project to develop a comprehensive Theory of Change, a model that demonstrates how batyr's work with young people with lived and living experience leads to individual, community and systems change. The model outlines the short, medium and long-term outcomes for young people taking part in the Being Herd program. This project was done in collaboration with batyr’s Design & Development team and the Lived Experience team, including lived experience storytellers themselves, to better reveal the outcomes experienced by program participants. The project was also supported by Griffith University PhD candidate Chris Wainwright, who undertook a systematic review of the outcomes created by like programs.

The project revealed:
The core elements that make a youth lived experience training program successful
The current evidence on lived experience advocates training outcomes
The potential wide-ranging positive impacts of training young mental health advocates

Innovation and Significance:
The development process involved lived experience perspectives at every step and while this has the potential to be a powerful compass for emergent services and programs in the youth health sector, young people have always been intended as the key audience. The new model will form the foundation for future lived experience program design and evaluation at batyr.

Three Key Learnings:
1. Delegates will gain insights into the power of youth advocacy and how young people can reframe their personal experiences for positive change, highlighting the broader impact of youth-led mental health advocacy.

2. Delegates will develop practical knowledge of how involving young people with lived experience in program design strengthens outcomes and ensures that programs are responsive to the real needs of participants.

3. Delegates will learn how a Theory of Change can be developed in the lived-experience advocacy space to guide initiatives in the mental health sector.