Engaging people with lived experience of homelessness, housing insecurity and family and domestic violence to create change.
At YWCA, we recognise the principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ and aspire to make the voices of people with lived experience central to everything we do.
Our Lived Experience Collective (The Collective) is a national network of passionate clients, tenants and residents, and community members with varied experiences of homelessness/housing insecurity, family and domestic violence and intersecting issues.
The Collective are trained and supported to:
- Provide guidance to YWCA to ensure our programs, services, housing and organisation as a whole meet the needs of the women and gender diverse people we support;
- Lead policy and systems change
What is involved?
The Collective will have opportunities to use their lived experience expertise to provide guidance and feedback across everything we do. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Advocacy: meeting with ministers, writing submissions
- Research and Evaluation: design research questions, take part in evaluation
- Marketing and Communications: media interviews and social media content
- Governance: support and guide decision-making
- Service Delivery: co-design programs or projects, be involved in reference groups or steering committees, provide feedback.
- People and Culture: Support recruitment and onboarding, write and review policies
- Housing: provide feedback to improve housing services, co-design or deliver activities.
We will also provide external opportunities from time to time.
All opportunities at YWCA will be recognised and remunerated in line with our Remuneration and Recognition Policy.
Who are we looking for?
The Collective is open to women and gender diverse people, of all ages and backgrounds, who have experienced housing insecurity, homelessness and/or family and domestic violence. This includes past and current users of our programs and services as well as residents of YWCA Housing properties.
We specifically want to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, people with disabilities, LGBTIQA+ people, older people and young people to apply.
Apply for YWCA’s Lived Experience Collective
Applications for YWCA’s Lived Experience Collective will open soon! Check back regularly for update
