ProfessionaLE: Joining a board of directors

Boards can be so inaccessible to people with lived experience. The terminology and rigid processes can be daunting to first-timers but getting lived experience in the boardroom is so important. In the words of last week’s ProfessionaLE guest, Graeme Holdsworth:

The sooner we get more lived experience on boards, the better it will be for finding practical solutions to suicide prevention

Graeme and I had a really good chat about what it is like being on a board as a person with lived experience, but also what we need to be advocating for to achieve change. Graeme spoke about the extensive work he had to do to get elected to the board of Suicide Prevention Australia, and outlined some of the cultural and structural barriers that made it hard to be elected. We also spoke about some of the responsibilities of being on a board of directors and the process you go through to get elected.

It was a great chat and you can get a written summary of the discussion here. A recording of the session is unable to be published.

If you have any feedback on our ProfessionaLE sessions, you can leave your comments and feedback in our online evaluation form.