A performance of two voices

Co-designing Care - Stories from a shared 18-year therapeutic journey

7th Service User Academia Symposium, University of Otago, Wellington New Zealand.

Sue and Ruth have together traversed an 18-year therapeutic relationship, due to end soon on Ruth's retirement. Since the very beginning, when Sue brought herself to Ruth’s office after experiencing 15 years of undiagnosed bipolar, they have actively co-designed their relationship, blurring some counsellor-client boundaries while establishing others.

This is a performance of two voices where Ruth Dunn and I tell our tale and use our lived experience to critically reflect on what we have learnt about co-design of mental health during our journey together.

I will perform my narrative live in Wellington NZ, and Ruth’s story will be projected on screen.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the staff of Swinburne University, notably Professor Greg Murray and David Yammouni for making this presentation possible.