Orygen Digital Youth Advisory Group

All staff at Orygen are expected to complete First Nations Cultural Safety training. 

The Lived Experience Participation Team will commit to making sure they are aware of culturally safe practices when recruiting First Nations YAG members, including an understanding of maintaining Social and Emotional Well-being within the workplace. 

It is each team member’s responsibility to identify any practices or procedures they feel are culturally unsafe to First Nations YAG members. Successful First Nations YAG members can reach out to the First Nations team for assistance or guidance if they do not feel comfortable talking to other staff or YAG members about a challenge. 

Orygen is a non-government organisation that delivers research, policy development, innovative clinical services, and evidence-based training and education for the mental health workforce to ensure that there is continuous improvement in the treatments and care provided to young people experiencing mental ill-health.  

Orygen’s values are respect, accountability, teamwork, excellence and iInnovation. We strive to live by these and ask all staff, volunteers and youth advisory councils to work in line with these values too.  

Orygen Digital is the digital mental health division of Orygen. We’re always working to create new and better technology that genuinely helps young people who’ve struggled with their mental health to feel better and build the lives they want. We have a team of researchers, software engineers, psychologists, designers, artists and peer specialists who work together to develop these digital tools. Learn more about Orygen Digital. 

Lived experience participation is about partnering with people with experiences of mental health challenges in making big decisions that impact people with similar experiences. This is in recognition that people with lived experience are a key group of experts we need to partner with to improve young people’s mental health. Orygen Digital is committed to partnering with young people and ensuring they have a say in how we do what we do, wherever possible.  

At Orygen Digital this means actively involving young people in decision-making, planning and program/project design at all levels of programs and organisations via advisory and co-design groups, advising on research projects, delivering our services and other ways at many levels of our work. One of the ways we involve people with lived experience in decisions is through the Youth Advisory Group.

We understand that circumstances change over time, and that some members may not be able to stay for the entire two-year duration. However, we encourage you to consider as best you can if you can commit to a two-year term before applying to ensure other young people don’t miss out.  

All interested applicants are encouraged to apply and are given the opportunity to share any availability or unavailability during their interview process if successful. 

No! You do not need any experience or qualifications to apply for this role. We value life experience, passion and desire to learn as your key qualifications in your application. Diversity of life experiences is an important part of having a YAG membership that can better represent young people across Australia.

Once applications are submitted, the Lived Experience Participation Team will consider all applications based on the criteria. The Lived Experience Participation Team will interview a shortlisted group of applicants. We expect the recruitment process for the Youth Advisory Group to take 3-4 weeks from the date applications close. You should hear back from Orygen Digital with a result within that timeframe.    

Please reach out to [email protected] if you have not heard anything after this time. 

All successful applicants will need to complete a National Police Check and Working with Children’s Check if they are successful. However, you do not need to obtain any of these before you apply. The Lived Experience Participation Team will help you with this process.   

Any fees associated with these checks will be covered by Orygen or reimbursed.  

Most certainly! MOST users are very welcome to apply. If you choose to access staff support on MOST (with a MOST Clinician, Peer Worker, or Career Consultant) during your term as a YAG member, we will work with you to identify and manage any conflict of interest during your advisory activities. 

While the Lived Experience Participation Team will provide wellbeing support as it relates to your role as a YAG member, we cannot offer ongoing mental health support. We encourage YAG members to access mental health supports independently as feels right for them. 

The information shared in the application will only be used for the purpose of deciding who we should interview and appoint to the YAG. The form with your details will be kept secure and will not be shared beyond the Orygen Digital team who are handling the recruitment process.   

The Lived Experience Participation team and the First Nations Team at Orygen will make sure the involvement of First Nations YAG members is culturally safe and in alignment with Orygen’s Statement of Commitment to the First Nations of Australia and the Orygen Cultural Strengthening Plan 2021-2025. 

The Lived Experience Participation team and the First Nations Team at Orygen will prioritise growing the connections of First Nations staff with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and young people at Orygen, and making First Nations YAG members aware of cultural support frameworks at Orygen.  

As with all other YAG members, Orygen will provide training, payment via honorarium, any travel costs and other support along the way. 

First Nations YAG members are encouraged to provide any feedback on processes they deem to be culturally unsafe, or those that do not align with Orygen’s commitment to the First Nations of Australia, however this is not an expectation or a requirement of their role.