The National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) has released the Consumer and Carer Engagement: a Practical Guide on working with consumers and carers in a collaborative way.

• In 2017 and 2018 the Commission formed a Lived Experience Steering Group to co-design with Craze Lateral Solutions the Engage and Participate in Mental Health Project. The Project culminated in the release of a summary report (Engage and Participate in Mental Health) and resource database.
• As a follow-up to this work, the NMHC supported the creation of Consumer and Carer Engagement: a Practical Guide drawing on materials from the Engage and Participate Project as well as other work undertaken for the Commission on safety in engagement and participation.
• The aim was to take the core values and principles identified in their earlier work and transform them into a practical and actionable step-by-step guide to getting started on the road towards engaging and participating with consumers and carers in a way that moves beyond tokenistic tick-box approaches.

Following on from the Engage and Participate in Mental Health Project, the NMHC also commissioned a report to examine ways to support people with lived experience to effectively and safely participate with services, organisations and systems. Read the report Sit beside me, not above me.