Emily Unity

About me

Emily Unity (they/them) is a lived and living consultant and software engineer with over 14 years’ experience in the mental health sector. They are passionate about creative solutions to systemic inequalities.

Emily is currently the Lived Experience Lead at the Royal Children’s Hospital. They are also on the Committee of Management for VMIAC and the Centre for Multicultural Youth, and a Board Director for Midsumma Festival and Intertwine. Emily is also a Lived Experience Advisor for Royal College of Psychiatry and Children & Young People with Disability Australia, and an Ambassador for UNICEF, Beyond Blue, Headspace, and more.

Emily grounds their work in their lived and living experiences of mental health, disability, LGBTQIA+, homelessness, and being a young carer from a refugee and migrant background.

For their work, Emily was recently awarded the Mental Health Advocate of the Year, Youth of the Year, Disability Leadership Award, Innovation in Protecting Children Award, Children and Youth Empowerment Award, Community Leadership Award, 30 Under 30 LGBTQIA+ Award, and inducted in the first cohort of the Multicultural Honor Roll.

Emily endeavours to use both their professional and lived experience to help design a world for all people, regardless of background, identity, or intersectionality.

My experience

Lived Experience Lead | Royal Children’s Hospital | 2021 – Present
Board Director | Midsumma | 2022 – Present
Board Director | Intertwine | 2021 – Present
Committee Of Management | VMIAC | 2021 – Present
Committee Of Management | Centre for Multicultural Youth | 2021 – Present
Founder, Host, & Producer | Multicultural Minds | 2021 – Present
Lived Experience Consultant | Orygen Youth Mental Health | 2020 – Present
Peer Support Consultant | ReachOut Australia | 2020 – 2022
Peer Support Worker | Headspace National | 2021 – 2022
Australian Youth Advocate for Mental Health | Headspace National | 2020 – 2022
Lived Experience Consultant | Black Dog Institute | 2019 – 2022
Youth Participation Redesign Officer | Orygen Youth Mental Health | 2019 – 2020
Youth Mental Health Officer | Hobsons Bay City Council | 2019 – 2020
Lived Experience Speaker | Beyond Blue | 2019 – 2021
Lived Experience Ambassador | ReachOut Australia | 2019 – 2022
Youth/Multicultural Advocate | Centre for Multicultural Youth | 2019 – 2021
Recovery Educator | Discovery College | 2019 – 2021
Crisis Counsellor | Lifeline Australia | 2016 – 2017
Welfare Officer & Advocacy Chair | University of Western Australia | 2014 – 2016
Youth Advocate | Headspace | 2010 – 2021

My training

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Graduate Member of AICD (GAICD) | Australian Institute of Company Directors | 2022
Cert IV In Mental Health Peer Work | Mental Health Victoria | 2021
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology | The University of Melbourne | 2020
Professional Certificate in Counselling | Monash University | 2019
Bachelor Of Science | University of Western Australia | 2014 – 2018

TRAINING QUALIFICATIONS

IPS Core Training (Peer Support) | Intentional Peer Support | 2021
MOCA (Clinical Aggression) | Victorian Department of Health | 2021
Asist Training (Suicide Intervention) | LivingWorks Education | 2019
SafeTalk Training (Suicide Prevention) | LivingWorks Education | 2019
Domestic Violence Response Training | Lifeline/DSS | 2018
eMHPrac Accreditation (Digital) | Royal Australian College of GP’s | 2018
Ndis Worker Training (Disabilities) | Ndis Q&S Commission | 2017
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) | MHFA Australia | 2016

My approach to supervision

Emily ensures that in all parts of their work, they have:

1. Respected each consumer’s right to self-determination, ensuring that I am consistently aware of power imbalances and their effects, knowing and respecting human rights, facilitating personal agency.
2. Valued connection and utilised my own lived and living experiences to build trust in relationships to facilitate meaningful and effective learning.
3. Ensured that there is mutual learning, growth, and challenging in relationships.
4. Respected everyone’s experience as their own expertise.
5. Held themselves responsible for their own behaviours and thoughts, and respected others needs.
6. Been completely authentic in their relationship and acted from their fundamental humanity.
7. Been transparent in all communications, collaborations, and decision-making.
8. Upheld hope of positive outcomes for all.
9. Remained curious and approached all interactions with compassion and openness.
10. Ensured that there is nothing about us, without us.