Welcome to the Lived Experience Advocate Service!
September 2021
Thank you everyone for your support of the ATDC’s Consumer Representative Service. As you know, we’ve been working hard advocating for lived experience perspectives to be heard by all in our sector, and we are encouraged by the positive responses from members. We are also listening to lived experience perspectives, and it’s for that reason that our representatives will now be known as Lived Experience Advocates (Advocates).
This new terminology was decided in collaboration with our Advocates. There were several reasons for the change, but some of them included:
- The Advocates prefer to call themselves Lived Experience Advocates.
- While the term ‘consumer’ is established in the wider health system, in the AOD context it can have the double-meaning of ‘consuming liquids and other substances into the body’
- Other organisations at the forefront of lived experience engagement (including AIVL, SHARC, and Harm Reduction Victoria) use the term ‘lived experience‘
- Promoting the use of clear, everyday language
Therefore, on behalf of the Lived Experience Advocates, the ATDC is pleased to welcome you to the newly named Lived Experience Advocate Service!