The Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council Tasmania (ATDC) is committed to embedding lived-living experience (LLE) across all levels of our work and championing for meaningful and influential LLE engagement across the Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD) sector and the broader health and human services systems. This Statement of Intent outlines our public commitment for meaningful LLE engagement to ensure those most affected by alcohol and other drugs shape the decisions, policies, and services that impact them.
People with LLE are key stakeholders in the AOD sector shaping systems, policies, services and must be included in decision making structures. The ATDC advocates for meaningful LLE inclusion across the sector. By listening, engaging, and acting alongside LLE voices, we move closer to a Tasmania free from alcohol, tobacco and other drug-related harm and discrimination.
Defining Lived and Living Experience
LLE of AODs is broad, diverse, and dynamic. It includes:
- People who currently use AOD
- People receiving AOD treatment and/or support
- People who have stopped using AODs with treatment and/or support
- People who have stopped using AODs without treatment and/or support
- Family members, friends, and carers with direct experience through their relationship with someone who uses AODs
LLE of AODs is not linear. People’s experiences may shift, overlap, or change over time, moving between different points in this definition, or holding multiple experiences at once. We honour the diversity, complexity and fluidity of these experiences, and the insights they bring.
We also recognise that these experiences are shaped by social and structural factors such as trauma, barriers to healthcare, income and housing, criminalisation, racism, disability, gender, culture, and digital exclusion. These intersecting realities contribute to inequalities in health outcomes, making each voice essential to understanding and transforming the systems that affect our communities.
Why Lived and Living Experience engagement?
The ATDC uses the term Lived and Living Experience engagement— notconsumer engagement or public participation—to promote accessible, inclusive language and to avoid language that unintentionally reinforces stigma, labels or stereotyping.
LLE engagement means including people with real-life experience in making decisions that affect them – through sharing ideas, giving feedback, co-designing solutions or helping lead the change.
Listening to, including and acting with Lived and Living Experience is not a token gesture. It is a foundational principle of how ATDC operates. We believe that those most impacted by AODs must play a key role in shaping systems, policies and services. Meaningful LLE engagement is trauma informed, and empowering, and designed to shift power dynamics, recognising LLE expertise as essential partners in change.
Through LLE engagement, we:
- Centre our work in dignity, autonomy and human rights
- Foster a culture of collaboration and mutual respect
- Build more responsive, person-centred systems
- Create stronger, equitable outcomes for the Tasmanian community
Our Commitment to Lived and Living Experience engagement
We, the Board and staff of the ATDC, commit to the following principles and actions, working in partnership with people with LLE to collaborate, share knowledge, and achieve change together.
1. Genuine Collaboration
- We embed LLE engagement where relevant and appropriate -through structured and informal mechanisms including conversations, surveys, focus groups, the Lived and Living Experience Leadership Steering Committee, Lived Experience Advocate Service, and project-specific consultation, using trauma informed practice throughout.
- We approach engagement with curiosity and openness, ready to change direction based on what we hear and learn.
- We will always engage meaningfully with people with LLE about matters that affect them before finalising key decisions, ensuring decisions are made alongside those most impacted.
2. Clear Objectives
- Whenever we engage with people with LLE, we clearly explain why we’re asking, what topics are included, what we’re asking people to do, and how their input could affect the outcome.
- We ensure that Lived Experience Advocates (LEAs) understand how their input will be used and always endeavour to follow up and close the loop after each engagement – demonstrating respect and accountability.
3. Accessibility
- We use engagement methods that are inclusive, culturally safe, and appropriate to diverse communities and contexts
- We tailor processes to reflect the lived realities of geography, digital access, capability, and culture, reducing barriers to participation
4. Opportunity to Engage and Grow
- We seek out and welcome new LEAs to broaden the diversity of voice and experience shaping our sector.
- We foster skill and leadership development through training, mentoring, and participation opportunities co-created with people with LLE.
5. Remuneration
- We recognise the expertise, time and emotional labour involved in sharing LLE.
- We ensure appropriate remuneration for formal engagement, valuing this contribution as essential to systemic change.
6. Continuous Improvement
- We regularly review and improve our LLE engagement practices based on feedback and learning with transparency about what we change and why.
- We commit to ongoing development for our Board and staff to strengthen our practice and ensure LLE values are embedded across the organisation.
Looking Forward
This Statement is a living document. It will evolve as we listen, learn and adapt with people with LLE. Shaped through collaboration with people with LLE, it will continue to be reviewed and improved in partnership with the LLE community whose expertise and leadership guide our work.
Endorsed by the ATDC Board at September 18 2025 board meeting.
