Congratulations to BEING’s CEO Giancarlo de Vera who, on Thursday, delivered the 24th Annual Public Woodcock Lecture, presented by Wellways to a packed audience at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.
The Woodcock lecture has been running for over 20 years, established through the generous support of the late Frank and Patricia Woodcock who tragically lost their son to suicide at the age of 31. The Annual Public Woodcock Lecture boldly challenges the status quo and pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in mental health reform.
Entitled “Reimagining Mental Health: Dignity, Humanity and the Power of Lived Experienced,” Giancarlo’s lecture reflected on personal experiences, the loss of close friends and the “slow invisible violence of coercive treatment” that exists within the mental health system – which too often responds to distress with force, “justified under the false guise of safety”.
“These tools of power – diagnosis, treatment orders, institutional language – are not neutral,” they said. “They govern who gets help and who gets handled.”
Calling for an end to forced treatment and for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be embedded in Australian laws, Giancarlo urged a shift to supported decision-making and trauma-informed care. They acknowledged the resilience of First Nations people and reminded us that the future of mental health is already being built: through peer workers, legal advocacy, and families choosing love over control.
Congratulations on such a powerful and well-received piece of public advocacy advancing the rights and voice of lived experience consumers.
The lecture was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Mary O’Hagan, Director of Lived Experience at Wellways, in which Maria Katsonis (a respected lived experience advocate and Deputy Chair of the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing) and Associate Professor Harry Hill joined Giancarlo to discuss issues raised in their lecture.
Wellways are hosting a summary of the event on their website or you can jump straight to a recording of the lecture if you’d like to watch it in full by clicking here.