Welcome to Our Consumer Place
When we experience mental health problems, we may have to reclaim the confidence that we may have lost. Reclaiming power over our circumstances, living by our own decisions, having responsibility for our part in the community, and - for most of us - working, are all essential and life affirming. Our Consumer Place is designed to help people achieve those goals.
We welcome people who identify themselves as consumers, psychiatric survivors, ex-consumers, service users, and all other terms we use for ourselves. For ease of understanding we have chosen to use the word "Consumer" throughout this website.
Click on the links below to find out more about Our Consumer Place, or access our resources by clicking on the buttons above.
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What is Our Consumer Place?
We are a consumer-run mental health resource centre that offers information and advice to individuals and groups who are providing consumer developed initiatives (CDIs).
Our Consumer Place - www.ourconsumerplace.com.au - has been developed by consumers for consumers - see our team of consumers working on the initiative. It is funded by the Department of Human Services (Government of Victoria) and auspiced by Our Community.
The funding to establish and provide this service in Victoria, makes it a first in Australia, with examples of similar and proven services in Europe and the United States.
What is a 'Consumer'?
The word 'consumer' has been chosen to describe people who:
- self identify as users of mental health services,
- have been diagnosed with mental illness or psychiatric disorder,
- have been active within a mental health service user movement that is aiming to bring change - both radical and incremental - to the way people labelled with mental illness are treated by services and society,
- describe themselves with pride using reclaimed language such as 'mad', 'crazy', 'loony', 'nutcase' and 'batty'...
- use the language of 'patient', 'client', 'user', 'service user', 'survivor', 'psych. survivor', 'sufferer' and other language used throughout the world.
It is important to understand the term 'consumer' and why it is being used, even if you don't like it. Click here to read our explanation.
What do we mean by Consumer Developed Initiatives (CDI)?
The possibilities are endless but the principle is the same: a consumer developed initiative is just a way to describe when we organise activities ourselves, whether to support each other, or to change society's perception of us.
We might start out getting together over a cup of coffee and hearing each other's stories. We laugh, we cry, we get angry together about things that need to change and we support each other to do all sorts of things that might not have been possible alone.
In order to achieve our goals we need knowledge and skills. Our Consumer Place is a place where we can meet, learn, and share with each other.
Click here to read more.
What are some types of Consumer Developed Initiatives (CDI)?
We might want to organise ourselves into an advocacy group, a mutual support self-help group or a provider of support initiatives. We might decide to start a business to benefit all of us - maybe a plant nursery, café, courier company, or picture framing shop (these are all examples of what are called independent consumer developed initiatives, where consumers control all aspects).
Or, we might be part of a voice hearers' group led by a consumer and staff person, or we might run a support group and the organisation provides the meeting space (these are examples of a consumer developed initiative in partnership).
Or we might be a Consumer Consultant running a recovery group or a member of a Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) providing advice in a mental health service. (These are examples of providing a consumer developed initiatives as an employee).
We might be a volunteer for an organisation, where we support a peer on a regular basis, or we might be on a government committee, or we might provide a training session for mental health support staff, or at a school, or in the community.
How can Our Consumer Place help our Consumer Developed Initiatives (CDI)?
Whatever your CDI's purpose, Our Consumer Place can help with achieving your goals.
Let's say you want to take the next steps to becoming an incorporated group. If you want to find a governance structure that will suit your group, learn how to run a meeting, pay your group's bills, balance the books, do your group's tax, manage boards, committees, staff and volunteers, use the media, attract funding, market your products, write reports, produce brochures, use new technologies…….and more besides - then Our Consumer Place can help.
Our Consumer Place is adapting the resources from www.ourcommunity.com.au and will be developing powerful new ones.
Current resources include:
- Starter Kit for CDIs
Help sheets in this section of the website provide information and advice about why you might want to be part of a consumer developed initiative, how to go about starting one up, and how to keep it going. - Growing & Formalising Your CDI
Help sheets in this section of the website provide information and advice how to go about taking your CDI to the next level. Here you will learn about becoming incorporated and developing your CDI's capacities in the areas of membership and recruitment, fundraising and financial management, governance, planning, partnerships, people management, marketing & media,using technology, and learning exchange. - Clearinghouse
This section of the website contains a wealth of information written by people about consumer developed initiatives. There are sections for information from published journal articles, un-published articles, conference presentations, position papers, and opinion pieces. - Become a Member
Becoming a member of Our Consumer Place, Australia's leading resource for Mental Health Community Developed Initiatives, entitles you to receive an array of information and resources. This includes our regular newsletter, which keeps you up to date with the latest news and views. Best of all, membership to Our Consumer Place is totally FREE. Membership is for individual consumers and consumer groups; organisations and staff that are in partnership with Consumer Developed Initiatives; and for anyone who is not yet involved in Consumer Developed Initiatives, but is interested in receiving information about these activities. We will be offering our members many ways to be involved. Members can be involved in our online discussions, involved in the further development of our website, involved in developing our future Consumer Developed Initiatives training packages and training program, contributions to our newsletter, just to name a few. - Training/Events
This section of the website includes details about upcoming training, conferences, forums and other events suitable for people involved with consumer developed initiatives. The listing includes information about the events, who will be running the event, who is supporting or sponsoring the event, when and where the event will be held, and costs involved in attending. - Directories
This section contains a directory listing of consumer developed initiatives already in existence in Victoria, and information about how you can get your own initiative listed on the site. A national and international listing is also included for those wishing to look a little further afield. This section fo the website also includes a listing of leaders who have experience in consumer developed initiatives and are willing to share their knowledge. - Message Board/Chat
We operate a message board service that members can post messages on. The posts can be viewed by all other members within the group, but these are not public message boards. Each posted message will be listed by the topic of the message, and will identify the senders First Name only, and the date the message was posted. - News & Updates
Find out the latest news in community development initiatives. - Glossary of Terms
Our glossary discusses why have we chosen the particular words that are used on this website, and what we mean by each particular term that we use. - Contact Us
We are developing an 'Agony Aunt' style section of our website to enable individuals or groups to contact Our Consumer Place via the internet to receive technical assistance and tailored information specific to their own situation and circumstances. Our Consumer Place also operates a phone assistance service, or you can drop into the office to talk about the needs of your group or get specific advice, information and assistance. All of our contact details are provided in this section of the website.
This service is funded by the Victorian Department of Human Services and its Mental Health Branch, Mental Health and Drugs Division and is auspiced by www.ourcommunity.com.au.