Film series on people living with noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions: LaVerne's Story

LaVerne, a breast cancer survivor, mother, and community leader from Redfern, Australia, regularly organizes screenings and health promotion activities with Aboriginal women.

“We have screening days where we bring the mammogram bus. We have lunch, we get hairdressers in, beauty practitioners. It's a real ladies’ day. It enables them to feel free and talk among themselves. Aboriginal women, you know, young women, they don't want to go and take all their clothes off and get tested.”, she points out.

Crucially, meaningful engagement and co-designing health policies imply a shift from the individual as a passive user to an empowered and valued agent of change. People with lived experience do not only require a seat at the table of decision-making, but should be able to drive processes, co-create programmes, and implement contextual solutions.

Watch LaVerne’s story: