Lived Experience Advisors - Specialist Mental Health Services

• Hillmorton Hospital, Christchurch
• Join the supportive Lived Experience Team
• Personal experience as a consumer of mental health service

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.

About the Role

Our Specialist Mental Health Services are provided by a range of outpatient, inpatient, community-based and mobile services throughout Canterbury. Specialist services include adult community, adult acute, rehabilitation, child, adolescent and family (CAF), forensic, alcohol and drug, intellectually disabled persons’ health, and others.

We’re looking for a Lived Experience Advisors to join our Specialist Mental Health Services Team, particularly in forensic, ID whānau lived experience, CALD, Pasifik and youth lived experience advisors.

About you

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Portfolios that amplify tāngata whaiora and whānau perspectives within governance, policy, and service design processes.
• Identify and address systemic barriers to inclusion, access, and responsiveness within mental health services.
• Partner with clinical and operational leaders to co-develop strategies that promote lived experience leadership and accountability to whānau voice.
• Contribute to strategic planning and policy development to ensure alignment with Te Whatu Ora values and national lived experience frameworks.

• Work in partnership with Māori and Pacific leaders, clinical advisors, and peer networks to ensure lived experience perspectives contribute to culturally grounded, holistic models of care.
• Collaborate with consumer, whānau, and peer support networks across Aotearoa to share learnings and strengthen regional lived experience advocacy.
• Support the Director of Lived Experience to build cross-sector relationships with NGOs, iwi, and community-based organisations.

• Provide mentorship and guidance to emerging peer and whānau leaders within Waitaha services.
• Contribute to workforce education and training by sharing lived experience narratives that foster empathy, anti-stigma, and human rights-based practice.
• Support the development of resources, frameworks, and tools that embed service user and whānau voice in everyday practice.
  

Your skills will include:

1. Lived Experience Leadership

• Deep, reflective understanding of one’s own lived experience of mental distress, addiction, or suicidality, and how that insight can inform systems change.
• Ability to draw on lived experience safely and purposefully to influence decision-making, service design, and policy.
• Capacity to hold space for multiple lived experience voices, recognising diversity across culture, age, gender, neurodiversity, and pathways of recovery.
• Demonstrated commitment to recovery, resilience, and post-traumatic growth as guiding principles.

2. Advocacy and Systems Thinking

• Proven ability to identify structural inequities within mental health systems and advocate for responsive, rights-based change.
• Experience contributing to policy, quality improvement, or service development processes.
• Strategic thinker who can navigate complex organisational environments and influence at multiple levels.
• Ability to translate lived experience insight into actionable recommendations for governance and service improvement.

3. Cultural Competence and Te Ao Māori Alignment

• Commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a foundation for equity and partnership.
• Understanding of Te Ao Māori values, tikanga, and concepts of oranga (such as wairua, hinengaro, tinana, and whānau).
• Awareness of how colonisation, racism, and intergenerational trauma influence experiences of distress and recovery.
• Demonstrated ability to engage respectfully with iwi, hapū, and Māori health leaders, and to elevate whānau voice in system-level spaces.

4. Relationship and Communication Skills

• Skilled in building mana-enhancing relationships across clinical, managerial, community, and peer networks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to represent lived experience perspectives in governance and cross-sector forums.
• Ability to navigate challenging or sensitive discussions with diplomacy and compassion.
• Comfortable facilitating wānanga, hui, and co-design processes with diverse stakeholders.

5. Collaboration and Teamwork

• Works collaboratively across disciplines to find shared purpose and solutions.
• Brings a partnership approach that values both clinical and lived expertise as equally valid.
• Supports and uplifts peers, whānau, and staff to strengthen collective capability.
• Demonstrates adaptability, humility, and openness to learning.
  

Working at Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities. 

How to Apply

To apply please click “apply now.” All applications must be submitted through our online careers’ portal by 10^th November 2025. If you have any questions about the role, please contact Natalie Gaunt at natalie.gaunt@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz

We will review applications as received and may proceed with the recruitment process, before the closing date of this advert.

Whilst Health New Zealand is undergoing change, affected employees will be given preference and priority for this position.