
Sure, I’ll answer some questions!

e-girl and activist – speak because your voice shakes
✨absolutely✨ pic.twitter.com/03iUVUtNsw
— 🤠 (@heavensbvnny) September 15, 2024
At the Anglicare panel, we were asked advice about supporting people with lived experience to participate in awareness, activism, PR and so forth. I referred to a couple of concepts borrowed from other spheres – looking after your “talent” and “Aftercare”.
As the tellers of our stories, we own them, we are the ones that went through the childhood, the illness, the trauma, racism, that a not-for-profit, or a politician, or other person or group promising to do good with this is looking to use to push forward their agenda. Of course it’s often not nefarious – some people are genuinely doing good or at least believing they are. And so, like you would if you were using a famous child star, puppy or washed up celeb to promote your brand of toilet paper, you need to treat the talent right.
The talent also needs to know they are the talent. They can’t be being talked into doing promotion for your cause out of guilt or sense of obligation because they have received some help in their time of need. It needs to be mutually beneficial, that might be a simple as paying your talent – giving them payment for the photo shoot, paying them for the article written about how awesome being supported by your organisation was. Because they are giving over more of themselves in this instance. They are selling their image, their story, their trauma, for you to promote your cause or service or product or scheme.
Us talent understand that different places have different budgets, but there are too many out there making way more from us than we’ll ever feel or be helped by them. Be the bigger party and start offering it. Start offerings stipends upfront for your clients to speak at your events about how awesome your are. This isn’t just for their time, it’s for their skill, and for them giving their story over to the audience and any trauma that comes from reliving that for your morning tea fundraiser.
The other concept I brought up, with a giggle, was Aftercare. A concept from kink communities, but very relevant when someone with lived experience is engaged for that lived experience. Not to say all kink is traumatic, but the kink side at least brings up discussing boundaries, setting limits, hell even safe words. On the panel I was on, I knew the other panelist and the facilitator and could tap out of the conversation if it got too tricky at the moment. But it’s discussing that before hand. Running through boundaries and questions and topics beforehand. What if you freeze in the kink play scene or speaking onstage. Who knows the signs to look out for. Is your talent someone with known mental health difficulties, diagnosed anxiety, or not diagnosed, and may know when they are getting past what they’re comfortable with. Ask if they need a support person with them, or who to call on.
After the event, what does your talent need? Are they able to stay on and chat with others or will they need time to regroup, duck to the loo, have a cold drink and then get back to it. Or is that it for the day, call them tomorrow to check in?
I’m still new to all this, but just know that your person with their lived experience, the talent, is vulnerable. You often have a lot of power in their relationship, particularly if you are or have been a service provider for them. People may not feel safe to back out if the situation goes beyond their comfort, but you need to make sure it doesn’t. You need to look after your talent, and make sure they are safe before, during and after. You want them having a great experience, and wanting to come back to do more, to let their peers know you’re safe to work with. That you’re one of the good ones.
Support my work: phonakins.com/support
Happy Liptember! The month where I actually wear lipstick and raise funds for women’s mental health projects.
Had a few good conversations this morning about *waves hands around* all of this. Cost of living, Centrelink, gatekeeping and waste from charities, attitudes towards addicts and more. A couple were in the line for the Ozharvest bag, where the inaccessible nature of the whole process came up because they make us wait outside the gate until 9am, and getting down the driveway or foot or in wheelchairs is hairy at best and they just don’t seem willing to make exceptions. I mean, they don’t even have a designated disabled park on site, and the other parks are up a slope from the doors.
I exchanged pleasantries with the volunteers, asking if it was fine to take a fruit and veg bag as well as the pies this week, and yeah there was plenty this week, but I remarked that I didn’t want to get in trouble because if I take one and get told no that was wrong it feels like I’m being told off, and sometimes I think I actually am. Like the time I asked “Hey is it okay is I take a bag of pies” and Sandra was “Please?” ugh. Yes ma’am please mam, I was being pleasant til you got school principal on me. Apparently she also put a guy’s daughter through questioning, which he felt was because “she’s an addict and looks like an addict” and left her feeling like never coming back. He and I talked about playing the meek and grateful role when it’s for ourselves but sometimes getting more than a little protective and defensive of others.
Bread was also in abundance today, which is good because I wound up buying the $8 fancy eggs from Woolies after Aldi was out and Woolies only had the Lake Macquarie local ones left. Good thing it’s pension day!
Two point something percent indexation in not next fortnight’s but the fortnight after. Plus that 10% rent assistance cash splash that Albo was touting that will do SFA, but seems to appease some of the numbers guys. I’ll be on a whole $1061.60 a fortnight from October 4. I’ll be getting paid for my 3 hours a week work too, let’s see how that affects things!
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So the Anglicare panel went well, just wended up being me and Catherine from AUWU (my boss) as Nathan from Hunter Jobs Alliance was unwell, so more intimate, but yeah, I’m exhausted but it was good and I think we got some great messages across.
Much of the discussion was around supporting people with lived experience – whether poverty, mental illness, disability, trauma and so on – to use our experiences to drive change and how that could work better and be better for all involved. Catherine reflected on how AUWU have pulled back from getting unemployed people to give testimony at Senate and related hearings as going through that trauma or telling their stories in such as forum, while cathartic for some, is re-traumatising for others and, like I’ve previously discussed, the limited lip-service paid and feeling otherwise ignored is starting to get to even the most experienced advocates. It doesn’t mean we won’t support each other and anyone who wants to tell their story to do so, but it’s about being more selective about where and when and how that occurs. AUWU and the Antipoverty Centre being able to pay people to write their stories when we get editorials weeks at Power to Persuade is one. Connecting welfare recipients with journalists and publications we know have been sensitive and accommodating is another.
Another is getting marginalised people into the roles where the changes are being made. And not just to be consulted, to be asked questions and hope your thoughts are included in the end product. Yesterday we called for marginalised people to be included from start to end, and treated (and paid) as equals. We may not have the skills or experience or qualifications in policy writing, in media, in being CEOs, in stats, but those are all things that can be taught. Unlike, as I argued, lived experience.
You can’t, ethically, give people genuine lived experience of poverty, disability, trauma and so on. You could cosplay it for a few weeks for a tv show, or be blindfolded for the day, or be a carer of someone who’s lived the experience, but you won’t genuinely have lived experience, as it always comes to an end.
So, identify talent within the community you support and look at how that enthusiastic person can be supported to develop the skills necessary to work with you on that project, to take your job, to be your boss. Invest in people.
I am one of those people who builds their ideas by talking.
Thanks to @anglicare_aust and @MaiyAzize for giving me a mic and asking great questions.
My new rubric: celebrate any policy that gets at least 10% of the way to the goal. Censure and mock anything less.
— Catherine Caine (@CatherineCaine) September 2, 2024
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So I think I’ve move past my despair and disheartenedess from last week, ready for the pollies to go back for another sitting week and try to make some announce-ables on cost-of-living stick in the lead up to the Federal election, which I’m still feeling is gonna be may not December but who knows yet?
Speaking of announce-ables, the Combined Superannuants and Pensioners Association have looked at the numbers and anticipate a 2.6% indexation on the base rate of pensions and 2% on supplements and other payments like JobSeeker.
So, for me that’s $21.40 a fortnight on the pension, and $3.54 a fortnight up on rent assistance (going from $177.20 $180.74 a fortnight, $90.37 a week). Of course that’s already gone, so it’s a good thing I’m signing a contract with AUWU to become the first actual employee of the Unemployed Works Union to further their Nobody Deserves Poverty campaign. If I’m good enough at my job it won’t exist soon, which should be the aim for most of the charities circling the slush fund that is the welfare industry.
We’re still sick in this house, I’ve just got the tail end cold which is fine until I talk and then I cough like crazy. The boys are ploughing through the tissues, good thing I have a delivery of essentials coming from Amazon this week. If anyone wants to send a care package there’s some boring things on our household wishlist. We’re still down a car which means my opportunities to do my shopping around have been limited and we’ve had to actually buy bread this week (the horror!). Even though Bruce won’t be up to fixing his car, since he’s sick and will be doing minimum work this week I can hit up our locals for breads and fruit and veg tomorrow 🙂 Til then, the guy at the servo this morning gave me this pumpkin so I’ll chop it up and roast it and add it to tonight’s meal. Score!