Open Consultations
Surveys, Consultations and Representative roles – your voice makes a difference!
By speaking up about your experiences, you can inform decision making and service design, and create positive change for you, other carers and the whole community.
We invite you to have your say in the following open opportunities. If you wish to raise a specific issue, you can email the Advocacy team below.
Epilepsy ACT is inviting you to add your voice to Epilepsy ACT‘s!
A Senate inquiry into epilepsy is now underway in Australia and this is a critical opportunity for people living with epilepsy, families, carers, and supporters to help shape future policy, services, and support.
This inquiry is about understanding the real impact of epilepsy across the country. And the most powerful way to do that is by hearing directly from you.
Who Can Contribute?
Anyone can make a submission, including:
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People living with epilepsy
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Parents, carers, and family members
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Health professionals and support workers
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Educators, employers, and community members
Please contact Fiona Allardyce director@epilepsyact.org.au for any questions or to contribute a story to Epilepsy ACT’s submission. You can also make a direct submission at the below terms of reference link here:
The Australian Delirium Research Association is conducting its second stage of the Delirium Research Priority Setting Partnership, and you can participate by:
Completing the survey questions which will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete.
The survey closes 25 May 2026.
For more information, please find the link here: https://www.delirium.org.au/research-priorities
Target audience: People who have had delirium, health conditions that increase the risk of delirium, carers, family members and healthcare staff
Supporting Your Young Person Through Change: Safe Transitions and Growing Independence Free Webinar
In partnership with Amaze, the National Assistance Card is hosting a free webinar for families and carers of Autistic young people.
This webinar will help you better understand how transitions affect your young person and provide practical, supportive strategies to help them feel safe, confident, and increasingly independent over time.
Event details
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Date: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
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Time: 10:00 – 11:00am AEST (include time for questions)
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Location: Online via Zoom
For more information, please visit: National Assistance Card | Personalised Disability Card Australia
Nobody understands the challenges of being a carer better than carers. Your lived experience is vital when governments and service providers seek to make changes that impact you and the people you care for.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) is currently reviewing the financial supports available to foster, kinship, and permanent/guardian carers, and they want to hear directly from carers in the ACT.
What’s involved?
Join a one-off online workshop to share your views and experiences with the current carer payment system.
Carers who participate will receive a $90 voucher in thanks for their time.
How to get involved:
- Fill out the expression of interest form: [Insert full hyperlink]
- Learn more on the Safe and Supported webpage
- Or contact AIFS directly:
- Phone: (03) 9214 7987
- Text: 0437 147 968
- Email: OOHC-carersreview@aifs.gov.au
Help shape a better future for carers by making your voice heard.
The Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards celebrate Canberrans creating change and opportunities for people with disability.
Do you know someone living with disability who is a leader in your community?
Whether it’s at work, part of a community project, or just one person making a difference, nominate them now before they close!
If you are looking to improve your knowledge and skills on what an Equally Well approach to health care looks like in practice, this new MHPOD course could be for you.
This FREE short course explores some of the evidence about the physical health needs of people living with mental health conditions, including the specific risk factors, illnesses, and strategies mental health workers can use to support people living with mental health conditions to achieve positive health outcomes.
Learning Objectives
- Recognise the increased likelihood of people living with mental health conditions experiencing co-occurring physical conditions.
- Recognise the opportunities that mental health workers have to ‘nudge’ consumers to access freely available vaccination and health screening services.
- Identify the heightened risk of metabolic syndrome in individuals with psychosis spectrum disorders.
- Increase awareness of the strategies, resources, and frameworks available to support people with co-occurring physical and mental health conditions.
To start the course you need to create an account and start the topic.
Follow the link below or visit the website mhpod.gov.au.
You are invited to participate in a research study: “Capacity Building Needs for Implementation Research and Practice in Suicide Prevention“. The research is a collaboration between the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University and the LIFEWAYS project, University of Melbourne. This study has been approved by the Griffith University, Human Research Ethics Committees (GU ref no: 2025/764).
The study aims to identify the training or skill development needs of stakeholders working in suicide prevention in Australia, enabling utilisation of implementation science (i.e., methods for putting research into practice) in their work. The results of this study will be used to directly inform the capacity-building programs for varied stakeholders and skill levels in the suicide prevention sector.
We invite you to take part in a sorting and rating activity. In this activity, you will group some brainstormed ideas on the topic, into themes and rate each idea based on its importance and feasibility. This activity should take about 30 minutes to complete.
If you are interested in participating in this study, you can read the Participant Information Sheet by clicking here or by clicking on the poster below:
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Carers ACT is sharing an opportunity to participate in research led by the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW.
Researchers at the Centre for Social Impact UNSW are conducting research about the professional contributions of adult siblings of people with disability when they enter roles in the Australian disability sector.
Are you an adult sibling of a person with disability who works in the disability sector?
The study explores how lived experience as a sibling may influence professional practice in disability-focused roles. Eligible participants must be aged 18 or over, live in Australia, and work in a disability-related role.
Participation involves a 15-minute online survey. Participants can choose to enter a draw to win one of two $100 gift vouchers.
Please see the attached flyer for full details, eligibility criteria, and the survey link.
Australian research company Catalyst recently conducted a large-scale consumer study on home care. Over 5,000 Australians gave their views, including 200 carers. However Catalyst is seeking more carers to be involved in its annual home care, retirement living and aged care surveys. If you’re interested in being part of this data collection, you can register to receive the surveys.
ReachOut are conducting an online research survey for parents/carers in Australia to tell us (confidentially) about the key issues you are concerned about, how they might impact the health and wellbeing of your child/ren, and how you might like to be supported to tackle these issues.
ADACAS and Advocacy for Inclusion have started a project to find the best ways to support parents with disabilities. The project will also look at the things that make it harder to be a parent with a disability.
The Mental Health, Justice Health, and Alcohol & Drug Services (MHJHADS) Division of Canberra Health Services (CHS) are reviewing how they currently support and treat people with co-occurring moderate to severe substance use disorders and moderate to severe mental illness, or co-occurring needs.
To inform this work, MHJHADS want to hear from people who may be experiencing, or have previously experienced, co-occurring needs, including their carers and/or family members.
Please provide your input via the survey: Co-occurring Needs Work Plan: Public Consultation (office.com)
If you would prefer to talk someone, please contact the Service and Transformation team at chs.mhjhadsserviceandtransformation@act.gov.au.
Researchers at University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research are working to improve neuropsychological assessments for earlier and more effective diagnosis of dementia in Parkinson’s disease.
In the first stage of the research, they are hoping to engage as many people as possible with Parkinson’s disease or who are caring for someone with Parkinson’s, that have taken part in cognitive or neuropsychological testing related to Parkinson’s disease.Reimbursement for participation will be provided by the researchers.For more information, visit https://clinical-research.centre.uq.edu.au/pdcognicare