Adrian Represents headspace Adelaide at the 2024 AEPCC Forum

In November, our Youth Peer Practitioner Adrian Thomas from headspace Adelaide's Early Psychosis program travelled to Melbourne to attend the 2024 Australian Early Psychosis Collaborative Consortium (AEPCC) Forum, supported by a bursary from Orygen.

Adrian is a founding member of the Lived Experience Network Establishment Committee (LENEC), a group formed to co-design the structure, strategy, and accessibility of AEPCC’s lived experience branch. He’s been volunteering in this space since July 2022, helping to shape a future where the voices of those with lived experience are embedded in early psychosis research and service delivery.

The forum brought together researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience from across the country. Highlights included a keynote by Professor Nev Jones on the power of lived experience in research, a collaborative workshop on reducing barriers to inclusion and presentations on current studies – including Cogscreen and the Virtual Reality study at our Centre.

Forum attendees were purposefully placed at mixed tables to generate rich discussions from different viewpoints. One activity asked participants to respond to real barriers around early psychosis research and inclusion of lived experience – the insights gathered will help shape future AEPCC work. Adrian also featured in content for Psychosis Understood and had the chance to connect in-person with colleagues he’s worked with online for years – including a special reunion with Professor Kelly Allott, lead researcher on the Cogscreen study.

You can read more about the forum on the AEPCC website: Lived experience community helps transform research at 2024 AEPCC Forum

We’re proud to have Adrian representing our service and continuing to elevate youth peer voices at a national level.