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Panel Members for Unlocking Peer Power (from left to right): Rafi Armanto, Annelin Festervoll, Savannah Whieldon, Casper Crombach, Julia Pointon-Haas, Rachel Murphy. Not pictured are Carolijn De Beer, Leila Heinrich and Shannon Pagdon.
Rafi Armanto is a peer worker and Orygen's Head of Lived Experience. He writes here about his observations from the 2025 IAYMH conference.
The biennial International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) Conference was held last month in Vancouver and showcased work across the entire mental health sector from research to program developments, evaluations, and emerging initiatives from around the world.
Something that makes the IAYMH Conference unique, is its focus on accessibility and ensuring that young people with lived experience and lived experience initiatives are provided a platform to share their work with the broader sector. I always appreciate the opportunity to learn from others around the world and how they approach lived experience work and inclusion within the context of their own community.
Orygen’s lived experience programs were a central part of the lived experience sessions at this year’s conference, and we were proud to share a number of Orygen’s lived experience initiatives and proudly demonstrate Orygen’s commitment to lived experience work, highlighting the broad ways in which people with lived experience are involved in Orygen’s work.
I had the privilege of co-chairing the international symposium, Unlocking Peer Power alongside Rachel Murphy, a PhD candidate and researcher from University College Dublin in Ireland. The symposium highlighted a number of peer support programs from across the world including in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland and Australia. Our idea was to showcase research into peer support, while grounding it with examples of practice, and a philosophical reflection on purposeful peer work involvement in youth mental health services. The symposium was tied up with a panel discussion including peer workers from Australia, Norway, and the Netherlands.
In addition to the symposium, Orygen staff, youth participants and board members also shared as part of the IAYMH conference. The below highlights are just a number of many lived experience presentations from the event.
Peer Research Program – Enhancing Lived Experience Expertise in Research by Shona Louis (Lived Experience Participation Lead) and James Reeves (Peer Researcher)
(left to right) Rafi Armanto and Sophia Tipping presenting on behalf of Shona Louis and James Reeves
Employed peer researchers have been an emerging role within research teams at Orygen over the last five years. This presentation defined peer research within the Orygen context, the challenges that they have faced, and the co-learning supports that have been developed to support peer researchers, and researchers working alongside them. The initiatives, which include a Lived Experience in Research Community of Practice, and facilitated co-reflection sessions have helped to define the scope of peer research at Orygen, the capacity building for research teams, and assisted in identifying gaps and opportunities within the organisation to support peer researchers.
Youth in Governance Program – Empowering Youth Voices in Governance by Jasmine Elliott (Orygen Board Member), Patrick McGorry (Executive Director) and Sophia Tipping (Manager, Youth Participation)
(left to right) Jasmine Elliott, Patrick McGorry and Sophia Tipping presenting in Vancouver.
Having lived experience embedded across all levels of the organisation is something Orygen is committed to delivering. In this presentation, recently appointed board member, and former Youth Advisor to the Board, Jasmine Elliott, presented alongside Pat McGorry and Sophia Tipping discussing the historical context behind developing the Youth in Governance Program, their experience with the program and the challenges, successes and future directions for the involvement of people with lived experience in Orygen’s governance.
Orygen Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work – Watering the Peer Work Garden by Ash Hem (Peer Work Trainer) and Sophie Rak (Clinical Consultant/Educator)
Rafi Armanto presenting Watering the Peer Work Garden on behalf of Ash Hem and Sophie Rak.
This presentation focused on our Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work program and the team’s reflections on developing and delivering the course. A tension that is often found in the development and delivery of the Certificate IV is balancing the requirement to deliver clinically focused units while maintaining the lived experience perspective. This presentation explored the team’s experience in working through this tension, and how they ensure that lived experience perspectives remain central to the teachings of the course by having peer workers lead the development, training and assessment of the course, and contextualising mental health concepts to peer work practice.
Youth Participation Training Development – Insights on the co-design of a staff training program by Sophia Tipping (Manager, Youth Participation) and Toby Wong (Orygen Digital Youth Advisory Group)
(from left to right) Sophia Tipping and Toby Wong presenting on the co-design of a staff training program for youth participation.
Orygen involves people with lived experience in a number of different ways, including through employed roles as part of the lived experience workforce, and also as part of youth and lived experience participation programs. In this presentation, Sophia and Toby shared their experiences leading and being part of the co-design and development process of a staff training program that has been designed to increase the capacity of the broader workforce in working with young people as part of participation activities within the organisation. The team shared that the co-design process has been integral in developing an adapted framework for youth participation within the organisation, as well as the design and development of the training program itself.
Online Youth Peer Work Program on MOST – A Community Life Raft by Savannah Whieldon (National Manager, MOST Peer Work)
(from left to right) Toby Wong, Sophie Farinacci (both part of Orygen Digital Youth Advisory Group) and Savannah Whieldon (National Manager, MOST Peer Work) with their posters at IAYMH 2025
A key part of the human supports as part of Orygen’s Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST) program is the peer workers that are available for young people to speak to when accessing MOST services. Peer workers not only provide one-on-one support, but also moderate the online community as part of the platform and ensuring it is a safe, relevant, and wholesome space for users. Peer workers also create lived experience content designed to promote conversations about mental health on the platform. This poster spoke to the work that the peer workers do on the platform, and shared many of the positive experiences that young people have had with the MOST community utilising real quotes from young people using the platform.
See more from IAYMH 2025