Changing the Landscape

Join us next week for Mental Health Month! We are delighted to bring you this webinar on LGBTIQA+SB Advocacy and Health Resistance with Changing the Landscape Ambassador and iconic queer and women's rights advocate, Wil Stracke. We will be discussing how we can advocate for the changes we need to see in our health and broader social systems, and what it means to build community through acts of resistance. You don't want to miss this conversation with an advocacy legend who works to change the landscape for the better every day. ABOUT WIL Wil Stracke is the Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the peak body for unions in Victoria, and a long-term campaigner for women’s and queer rights. She was previously an Associate Solicitor at Slater & Gordon before commencing as an organiser with the Australian Services Union where she worked with members on workplace and industry wide industrial campaigns. She was the Lead Organiser in Victoria for the ASU national ‘Equal Pay’ campaign that achieved wage justice for underpaid, predominantly women workers in the community services sector. In 2013, Wil shifted across to Trades Hall, coordinating large scale trade union political and industrial campaigns. She was elected Assistant Secretary in 2014. In 2017, Wil ran the Victorian field campaign for the ‘Yes’ campaign for marriage equality. Wil has a large online presence and uses her platform to promote issues around gender equality, queer rights, mental health and workplace rights. Wil’s work has been acknowledged with the 2018 John Cummins Victorian Unionist of the Year Award and the Jennie George Award in 2024 for outstanding contribution by a woman to the Australian union movement. (Image ID: A purple tile with a rainbow wave across the corners. The tile reads: Mental Health Month Webinar. LGBTIQA+SB Advocacy and Resistance. In conversation with Wil Stracke. Wednesday 16 October. 6:00pm - 7:00pm AEST. Online via Zoom.)

Mental Health Month is an opportunity to speak openly about mental health and advocate for what we need to be well, engaged and connected. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how we resist the systems that create the conditions for mental ill health and build communities of care in the face of these challenges. Over the next few weeks, Changing the Landscape will be bringing you stories of resistance from LGBTIQA+SB people with experiences of suicide, sharing events, and launching resources to support the delivery of life-affirming LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention care. Get involved this month and: 1. Affirm the Changing the Landscape Statement for LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention reform 2. Sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with the campaign, resources and events 3. Join our Days of Significance Storytelling Campaign and contribute to collective advocacy for LGBTIQA+SB communities! Get involved here: https://lnkd.in/gP8p34y4 [ID: A tan tile with abstract rainbow waves in the top right and bottom left corners. There is text that reads 'Get Involved: 1. Affirm the Changing the Landscape Statement; 2. Sign up to our mailing list; 3. Join our Storytelling Campaign'. At the bottom is the URL https://lnkd.in/gbYu5Npx]

Less than 15 signatures to go until we reach our Wear it Purple Day goal and announce the winner of our giveaway!    LGBTIQA+SB people everywhere deserve to have suicide prevention systems that are safe and affirming of our lives. The Changing the Landscape Statement is the next step on the path to a better future for our communities.   Read and sign our Changing the Landscape Statement here: https://lnkd.in/gdgryUXD   To make sure you're in the draw to win a Changing the Landscape t-shirt, campaign pin and a poster: - share this post - tag us @changingthelandscape - tell us why you've signed this Wear it Purple Day   (Image ID: a pink tile with text that reads "187 signatories and counting. Help us reach 200!". In the top left corner there is an abstract rainbow stripe, and across the bottom of the tile the MindOut, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, Switchboard and CHARLEE logos are visible.)

We are so proud to have Emily Unity as an Ambassador for Changing the Landscape. Yesterday, we had the privilege of sitting down with Emily for Wear it Purple Day and discussing what it means to take pride in your lived experience advocacy when LGBTIQA+SB people continue to be left out of suicide prevention systems. It was a thoughtful, reflective and, despite the topic, often joyous conversation. It highlighted just how much we must change these systems if we want to meaningfully respond to suicide in our communities. LGBTIQA+SB people must be recognised for our lived experiences and expertise, our leadership must be embedded across suicide prevention systems, and we must have sustainable funding to ensure a better future for our communities. Join our call and add your voice by signing our Changing the Landscape Statement here: https://lnkd.in/gdgryUXD

Help us reach 200 signatories this Wear it Purple Day and go into the draw to win a Changing the Landscape t-shirt, pin a poster! LGBTIQA+SB people continue to experience disproportionately higher rates of suicide than non-LGBTIQA+SB people. We experience these higher rates not because of who we are, but because of how we are mistreated. Our experiences go unrecognised, our leadership is overlooked, and services that demonstrate positive outcomes for LGBTIQA+SB people are continually underfunded. Our communities deserve better. We deserve to have access to life affirming suicide prevention support when we need it most, and we deserve to live bright, vibrant, proud lives, just like everyone else.     The Changing the Landscape Statement is the pathway towards safe and affirming suicide prevention responses for all LGBTIQA+SB people.    You have the power to create change for our communities by adding your voice to the Statement.   Read and sign today: https://lnkd.in/gdgryUXD To go into our prize draw, all you need to do is: 1. repost 2. tag us @changingthelandscape 3. tell us why you're signing the Statement for Wear it Purple Day