New Perspectives College
A space where people come together to learn from each other, share experiences, and reach a new understanding of mental health.
We run courses for people who want to learn more about mental health. Whatever your role might be in life, at New Perspectives College you are a student.
Adults with varied experiences in mental health collaborate to create our courses. They share their knowledge of what works.
Every course is created and delivered equally by people who draw their expertise from lived or professional experience (and often both!). Participants also have a say about what they want to learn.
About us
We’re part of Bayside Health’s Alfred Mental and Addiction Health. Our lived experience workers and clinical staff have created a free space where you can learn about mental health and wellbeing in ways that feel meaningful, safe and inclusive. We can learn with and from one another towards communities that can not only tolerate human distress but also overcome it.
How we work
We build our courses with people who hold expertise and experience around each topic.
We co-plan, co-design, co-deliver and co-evaluate. This is known as co-production.
We offer 14 different courses. We have adapted eight courses from the co-production work in the youth discovery college, and we’ve fully co-produced six new courses in our adult and older adult programs.
No books or pens required
It’s not traditional learning. No books or pens are required. We draw on experiences that each and everyone of us have. And because those experiences are so different, what we can learn can be very rich and meaningful for everyone who participates. You could attend the same course five times and each time it would be different!
A relaxed environment
We are now holding our courses in community settings such as gallery spaces. Why? We listen to our students. They told us that they feel safer and more at ease learning in the community in which they live and work. People often feel more at ease in a relaxed environment rather than a clinical setting.
Our team
Andrew Foster – New Perspectives College Co-Lead (by Lived Experience)
John Vokoun – New Perspectives College Co-Lead (by Profession)
Who can enrol?
We welcome staff members, students on placements, service users as well as their friends and families of choice, and people from the community in which we live and work.
