Begonya Ward

I identify as a mother; my son has experiences that affects him negatively in his mental health. I am a person with lived experience as a family member, at times I am a career. My passion is to find ways to advance the system towards recovery, to advocate against stigma, promoting understanding, communication and education. When my family fell into this experience, I felt ill prepared to support my son. I felt unsupported in my attempts to navigate the system and found it difficult to have my voice heard. I was not part of the decision making, nor was I given choices. When I realized the system was flawed, I educated myself for change. I took part in Curtin’s Lived Experience Educator unit in 2020. I work in the disabilities sector as a team leader for a non-for-profit organization. I believe in using our own power to stay well, but I believe it cannot be done in isolation, the whole community has a role to play, not just to empower and support people in distress, the vulnerable and those in need, but to create the paths and opportunities for them to help themselves. We can do this by creating policies and services that best serve people’s needs and recovery, focusing on solutions, not interests and by incorporating families and supporters in a meaningful and consistent way. It would be interesting to work in projects aligned to my beliefs, targeting my goals of creating equality in our communities, systems that reflect best practices and are accountable. My interest focus on identifying gaps in those systems and creating practical change.