In this edition:

• Rachael's Update

• Board Update - Raff Di Bartolomeo

• Army Member Spotlight – Lexington Mitchell

• Integrity Initiative at TheMHS

• Trail of Creativity

• External Work and Events

• Workshops

• Resources and Writing

• Partnerships

• Caring With Integrity Update

• Get Involved and Support Us

• Slay Takeaways

Rachael’s Update

*Cue prolonged yawn*

My goodness. What a month!

This month has brought a lot of connections, public speaking and scouting out opportunities, many of which will hopefully come to fruition very soon.

I presented twice at TheMHS, spoke at Unfiltered Stories, sat down for an interview, had countless virtual and in-person coffee chats, and somehow also found time to draft a journal article on the harms of family based therapy. The Trail of Creativity is full-steam-ahead now, with pocket packs out in the world and both of our big events locked in.

So yeah, lots happening. Lots of ideas, promise and potential but also a lot of waiting, and in that note…

Incorporation Update

Whilst we do not have an update on the status of our incorporation (yet... stay tuned), we have officially completed our reporting for the WA Peers Helping Peers grant, and we are pleased to share a public-facing version of that report outlining what Integrity Initiative has achieved, where we are headed, and the successes of our community to date.

You can view the public report here (it’s pretty, I promise)

Cover page on a dark teal background, with the Integrity Initiative logo, a badge showing a figure holding flowers to their chest, at the top. Text reads "Peers Helping Peers, Integrity Initiative Final Acquittal," with the ACN, ABN, and "a company limited by guarantee" beside a line drawing of a signed document and pen. Below that, "Completed by Rachael Burns, 5/7/2026." A white footer strip along the bottom carries the logos of WA Primary Health Alliance, Consumers of Mental Health WA, and Integrity Initiative.

We hope to become officially registered as a charity with DGR status very soon. We will certainly be making it known when this happens.

Board Update

Board meetings are now running monthly, and we’re finding a rhythm. Huge thanks to our Chair, Raff, who has been an incredible support, and of course to all of the wonderful Board members.

The Made by Many event on Friday the 12th of June marked the formal announcement of the first Integrity Initiative Board and the start of a very exiting journey for all of us on the Board. Amazingly, it has been 76 days since that event and the Board has been spending this time to firstly learn about the amazing work so far. This has included identifying the incredible strengths that are already there and thinking about how we might be able to contribute to Rachael and the Integrity Army’s amazing work. Being able to spend more time reflecting on II has reinforced why this work matters so much and so much to me.

You only need to go to the ‘About Us’ page on the newly revamped website to see a representation of what is most important. Quite often this is where the board profiles of an organisation are featured. Instead, what you see is a focus on the work and then the profiles of the amazing Integrity Army. These are the people who do the work and who share so much of the time, energy and of themselves to create positive change in this world.

While II is moving into becoming a vibrant organisation, II the movement has already been doing it’s thing and creating impact. To have an opportunity to join this movement was just an amazing chance to be part of something special. To me II is something that’s creates real positive impact and where people are connected and committed to creating are world when autonomy, dignity and the importance of peoples human rights are worth fighting for. This is what drew me the join the Board. Thanks to Rach and the Army for all that has been done so far and for the opportunity with the rest of the Board to be part of this adventure!

Integrity Army Spotlight - Lexington Mitchell

One of our wonderful Integrity Army members, Lexington Mitchell, became a registered Occupational Therapist earlier this year (congratulations 🥳). You also might recall that I have been working alongside Dave Parsons, the Head of Discipline - Occupational Therapy at Notre Dame University, and may even remember me presenting a guest lecture to OT students earlier this year.

Since then, we have continued to be involved in the establishment and representation of Lived Experience within the Notre Dame course. Recently, Integrity Initiative was invited to join the Occupational Therapy Industry Reference Group to bring a Lived Experience perspective, and it was an absolute honour to have Lexi fill this role.

Here are some reflections from Lexi following the first meeting:

The first Occupational Therapist I worked with taught me how to play UNO. We were sitting in the garden outside the day program building in Princess Margaret Hospital. It was November, mid morning, I had just finished my morning snack; generally quite an awful time of day, a lonely few hours between therapy and meals that would leave you with your thoughts that snowballed to an overwhelming sense of impending doom, lunch.

As we made our way outside, she pointed out to me all the colours she could see. We spoke about how nice it was to breathe the fresh air, to hear the birds, to feel the sun on our skin.

We played a few rounds of the game, first was learning the rules and the strategy, and the next few I won. During the games, I had fun for the first time in a while, and I almost forgot about the fear and sadness of the situation I found myself in, I was present in the game.

As a clinician now, I understand the therapuetic techniques being used during that time. The grounding through play as a tool keep me in the present, and focus my thoughts away from the general sad cascade. Hosting the session outside physically removed me from a traumatic environment to a place that I felt I was safe in. She used a simple card game, easy enough to manipulate the winner, to faciltate a sense of achivement for a girl with an incredibly low self esteem. This combined with a structured goal centred approach, engaged me with her process in a way that didn’t threaten me, but made me feel able to continue participating.

I think about this session a lot and the subtle, particular ways she integrated occupational therapy values into my story, before I became one myself. I can see the value that OT can bring to mental health care, in a holistic, person-centred approach where individuals are seen as more than their diagnosis. And that’s one of the many reasons why I love being an OT.

Integrity Initiative at TheMHS

It was an absolute honour to go to TheMHS for the second time, made possible through a bursary courtesy of The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Victoria State Government Department of Health.

I had two presentations - When Hope Becomes a Hindrance, and Integrity In Albany. Both were wonderful opportunities not just to showcase Integrity Initiative but also to speak more broadly on topics I care deeply about.

You can read more about the presentations via the reflection posts I shared:

When Hope Becomes A Hindrance

Title slide on a dusty blue background, with the Integrity Initiative logo centred at the top. Text reads "When Hope Becomes a Hinderance," subtitled "Lived Experience, Lived Expertise, and making meaning beyond 'storytelling'," presented by Rachael Burns (she/her), Integrity Initiative.

The mental health sector often deifies hope, positivity and resilience… but when this is held without recognition that resilience shouldn’t be necessary in the first place, it shifts accountability away from broken systems and onto the people harmed by them. Passive hope asks people to endure rather than resist, and rewards the kind of lived experience story that resolves neatly.

The alternative is active hope, built through accountability, hard work, and a reframing of lived experience as professional expertise rather than inspiration.

Integrity in Albany

Title graphic reading "Integrity in Albany" on a dusty rose background, with a white line drawing of a heritage clock tower building on the left and the Integrity Initiative logo, a scalloped badge with a figure holding flowers to their chest, in the upper right.

In Feb 2026, Integrity Initiative ran a regional outreach trip to Albany, WA, its biggest project to date. The trip nearly didn’t happen: no funding, no paid staff, no proof of concept, and months of grant rejections before three grants came through in the same week. Despite endless hurdles, Integrity in Albany can to life.

Over eight days, with three grants combined small, six volunteers and no paid staff, the trip delivered 165 care packages across three services (the acute psychiatric unit, CAMHS community service, and a step up step down facility), ran five original workshops across a school, two clinical settings, a residential and the community, and held six community events, including the Albany Pride Festival, a documentary screening, and a market stall.

The throughline? That communities written off are only hard to reach because systems make them so, not because the need or the willingness isn’t there.

Of course, the best part of TheMHS was the connections, the networks and the human-ness. Having deep, real conversations (despite being in a space that felt far too fancy for me to set foot in!). It was the learning, the ambition and the refusal to let ‘hope’ remain within the realm of inspiration, but to demand we take accountability, acknowledge flaws within systems, and to call out the biases that still saturate mental health models.

Thank you deeply to all of the wonderful people I spoke to. Each and every conversation brought meaning, passion and determination. Each reminded me of the need for this work and to gently challenge rather than to sit in blissful ignorance or comfortable compliance.

Here is my reflection on ‘When Hope Becomes a Hindrance’:

Hand drawn, black and white sketchnote titled "When Hope Becomes a Hindrance," summarising a talk, with a dotted grid background. It opens with the line "I do NOT hold hope in the way this sector wants me to," then defines inspiration porn, crediting Stella Young. Four boxed sections follow: epistemic injustice (with hermeneutical and testimonial injustice noted, illustrated by two speech bubbles), infantilisation (illustrated with a teddy bear beside the words "we are professionals"), preference for palatable (illustrated with a gift box), and intersectionality (illustrated with crossed arrows and the note "these do not exist in their own siloes"). It closes with the line "Hope without action is wishful thinking," a note on shifting from passive to active hope through lived experience expertise, and the handles @rachael_burns and @integrity_initiative.

Trail of Creativity

The Trail of Creativity is a series of art activities, events and community spaces in and around Walyalup centred on imperfection, expression, acceptance and human messiness! This trail was designed to celebrate the messy, imperfect, human nature of creating. Sometimes the fragments that aren’t neat or precise are the ones that best capture what it means to exist imperfectly in a world that is overwhelming and chaotic.

Our pocket packs have gone out (we sent a total of 40 out! Exactly our goal!), we held our creative workshop, Creating in Community, and we are gearing up for a huge Where The Trail Leads exhibition in October, with more and more registrations daily. We will be welcoming the Hon. Simone McGurk, Minister for Creative Industries, Heritage, Industrial Relations, Aged Care and Seniors and Women, as well as Brad Pettit and Councillor Karen Whetland.

Pocket Packs

Our pocket packs are officially out in the world! Each pack includes simple art materials and a prepaid envelope, so participants can create in their own time and send their piece back to us.

We sent out 47 envelopes! We crushed our target of 40!

We cannot wait to see what everyone creates.

A row of stuffed envelopes standing upright on a desk, ready for mailing, next to a small stack of "Pulch" magazines with a dark floral still life cover.

Creating in Community

A group of about twenty people seated around tables covered in pale blue cloths, working on craft activities inside a large, high-ceilinged community hall.

On Sunday the 30th August (yes, this morning), we held our open community creative space as part of the Trail. The morning started with a brief creative workshop centred around re-framing creativity, how it relates to mental health, and the ways that imperfection, humanity and messiness connect us all.

We had a wonderful group of creatives, plenty of creativity, and only a little bit of spilled paint (kidding, there was plenty… but we had table covers!).

It was heartening to read peoples’ reflections on what they took away and what creativity means to them:

Being seen through my art, communicating through art, connecting through art, are some of the most impactful, valuable, and meaningful experiences for me.

Thank you for holding space for us without making it about our commonality. Allowing it to exist without being the focus. ♡

Creativity looks like an expression of my thoughts, feelings and my unique ways. It is me being thoughtful in how I can approach tasks, projects or processes.

Overhead view of a paint-splattered craft table covered in a pale blue cloth, with two paint palettes loaded with mixed colours, several paintbrushes, water cups, oil pastels, and felt-tip markers scattered across the surface. A "Trail of Creativity" flyer with a QR code sits near the top, and in the foreground is an artist submission card reading "Bobby, he/him" with an artwork title that's been crossed out and rewritten as "the important meeting."

Where The Trail Leads

Spread the word, invite everyone you know! Our gallery exhibition is coming to life!

Join us at Walyalup Civic Centre from 4-6pm on Saturday October 17th, enjoy the showcase of works from our wonderful participants, and be part of a community of support, creativity and human imperfection 🩷

We will have:

• 10+ stalls from community mental health services and local artists.

• A panel discussion with some of the wonderful artists who contributed to the Trail.

• Short speeches exploring the meaning of creativity in practice, reframing and humanising how it is experienced.

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Event flyer titled "Where the Trail Leads," on a pale blue background. Text reads Saturday 17th October, Walyalup Civic Centre, 4:00 to 6:30pm. A QR code on the left is labelled "Register." Six white boxes list the event's offerings: art exhibit, panel discussion, market stalls, mocktails and canapés, ministers, and hear from the artists. On the right, a black silhouette of a person carrying a bag over their shoulder stands atop a winding path.

Access Guide here

Screen reader friendly access guide

If you’re interested in being a stallholder…

Line drawing of a market stall or display table with a zigzag banner on top, a pegboard hung with framed pictures and cards, and boxes of cards or postcards on either side of the table.

If you know a local artist or maker who would like a spot at the gallery event, send them our way using the stallholder form below.

Complete the form here

If you’re interested in speaking opportunities…

If you would like to get involved either in our panel or by giving a short speech (both remunerated), get in touch as we would love to hear from you!

Places are limited, so please email Rachael@integrityinitiative.com.au as soon as possible.

External Work and Events

Unfiltered

A group of ten people standing together and smiling for a photo in front of a screen displaying the "Perth Unfiltered" logo, in a venue with a rustic, weathered copper-toned wall behind them.

On Tuesday August 11th, I was honoured to speak at Public House Perth as part of the Unfiltered Global Storytelling initiative.

It was a challenge not to share, but because I had to talk about myself and my own experiences, rather than about Integrity Initiative. Avie came along to support, which meant the world. Five speakers, five minutes each, and a room that felt like community in a way that had nothing to do with work. The night’s recordings were unfortunately lost to a technical hiccup, but I’ve been invited back to speak again, so watch this space. I also voiceover-ed part of the story I shared, which you can see here:

Preparing for the International Association for Youth Mental Health Conference

The International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) conference is coming up in November, and preparations have officially begun!

I’ve been putting together the slides, notes and content points that will make up four features: a poster, two tabletop presentations, and a shorter flash presentation. More on those soon.

For now, I’d love to highlight a way you can contribute your thoughts, ideas and perspectives all the way over in Dublin.

Those who saw my “When Hope Becomes a Hindrance” presentation at TheMHS (and those who missed out) can look forward to a summarised poster version at the conference, with all the important points and none of my whiny voice. And in true community-mobilisation style, I’ve dedicated a section to your thoughts on passive versus active hope.

Conference poster titled "When Hope Becomes a Hinderance: Reframing Lived Experience as a Discipline, Not a Disposition," by Integrity Initiative

If you’d like to contribute, I invite you to share how you see hope shifting from passive to active. You can remain anonymous or be named.

Fill out the form here: Share Your Thoughts: When Hope Becomes a Hindrance

Resources and Writing

I’m in the process of writing several pieces and searching for spaces to publish them: a journal article on the harms of family based therapy (alongside Gabriel Luieniecki), a piece challenging the body image narrative of eating disorders, and a few other secret pieces! I was also interviewed by Today Design this month for an upcoming article, and we’re now talking about a bigger collaboration together - more on that soon.

What I CAN share is a reflection on the nature of conferences - a deep dive that explore who is actually being platformed, what knowledge is exchanged, and who is left out. You can read here:

I have a piece coming out very soon through Butterfly, so stay tuned for that one!

Partnerships

Following TheMHS, it has been an incredibly busy period of connections, coffees (both virtual and actual), and learning about the wonderful work happening in the sector. We have been very busy chatting with folks from many spaces, sectors and even states! From consumer peaks to youth mental health community services to media and even not for profit executives.

Some highlights include:

• We are now officially in partnership with Pulch Mag, a youth-led local magazine collating poetry across youth issues, politics and culture. They have provided some wonderful zines through our Trail of Creativity and we look forward to welcoming them with a stall at Where The Trail Leads

• Sharon Lawn, Executive Director of our wonderful partner organisation, Lived Experience Australia, won the Tom Trauer award! Congratulations Sharon, it is an absolute privilege to see you recognised. Your contribution to research, the Lived Experience space, and the intersection between the two is deeply admirable, as is the kind, generous and deeply intelligent person you are.

• An extra special thank you to Trish Tran, who is generously volunteering her time to run a personal medicine coaching certification training course for friends of Integrity Initiative not only is it an honour to have Trish facilitating the course, it is also a phenomenal opportunity to add to the number of certified personal medicine coaches within WA.

A huge thank you also to all the wonderful individuals and organisations who have made time for me, supported me and spoken with me over the past month - it has certainly been an incredibly busy yet glorious time for connecting as humans 🩷

We are growing our model of partnership and exploring what this could mean for the support we provide and receive.

If you/ your organisation has more capacity to reliably support us, please reach out and we can chat.

Non-financial partnership form

Financial sponsorship EOI form

Workshops

As with last month, our workshops are ready to go, built around a concept I hadn’t previously put into words, but that was so gorgeously articulated by our newest Army member, Michelle. “Advocacy isn’t a monologue, it’s a dialogue.“

We can give speeches and put out messaging, but the real work, change and challenge takes shape in workshops, collaborative spaces and conversations.

You can browse the workshops we have to offer on our website here: https://integrityinitiative.com.au/workshops

If you are interested in having us deliver a workshop, please complete this form or send an email to rachael@integrityinitiative.com.au

Caring With Integrity Update

Care Package Recipient Waitlist Opening

We are currently scoping a number of potential partnerships and package deliveries, which is deeply exciting. As such, we invite organisations who are interested in a future delivery to express their interest here and be added to our waitlist!

Caring With Integrity – Fill out form

We would love to roll out as many packages as we can over the next few months and get some deliveries out in time for Christmas.

Caring for Community

Our mailable community creative packages have got us thinking…

What ways we might bring Caring With Integrity not just into wards but also into community spaces? We’re thinking soup kitchens, community services, local hubs, community mental health, crisis accommodation, public housing and beyond. Again, if you are interested we’d love to hear from you!

Future Deliveries

This month I have been building relationships and scoping interest for future care package deliveries. I have had several promising meetings and emails, with many services interested in receiving some of our packages.

A highlight amongst this was my presentation to the Royal Perth Bentley Lived Experience Advisory Group on Tuesday the 18th, which left me hopeful, nervous and excited for the potential collaborations to emerge.

Stay tuned, more on this to come soon!

Reminder that you can express interest here: Caring With Integrity – Fill in form

See our new resource on the Caring Process here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_m7H7EDbB9ix-w3_R6UsQWhH69PYq-P9/view?usp=sharing

You can view more about Caring With Integrity on the webpage here: https://integrityinitiative.com.au/caring-with-integrity

Get Involved and Support Us

Financial sponsorship

As we edge closer to incorporation (hopefully any day now), we’re starting to plan what sustainable support looks like for Integrity Initiative: donations, partnerships, and everything in between. We’re not asking for a commitment today. We’re asking for your thoughts. If you or your organisation might consider supporting us once our deductible gift recipient status is in place, or if you simply know the funding and partnership landscape better than we do and have ideas on where to look, we’d genuinely love to hear from you.

Line drawing of a hand holding a small round coin or ball between the thumb and fingers.

The form takes a few minutes, you can respond anonymously, and nothing you share is a binding agreement of any kind. It’s about helping us plan with real information rather than guesswork. Sponsorships, Partnerships and Donations – Fill in form

Host a workshop

Our workshops are ready to be run! From how to embed Lived Experience responsibly to language shifts, avoiding tokenism, neurodiversity, eating disorders, creativity, embedding autonomy and beyond, we have something for every space. Completely customisable, too!

We also offer Unfiltered (out Lived Experience documentary on accessibility in the workplace) educational packages!

View our workshops on our website

View our workshop pricing guide here

View the Unfiltered educational package pricing guide

Commission us

Got a specific project you want some Lived Experience advice on? Let us know! We have a team of experienced, passionate and dedicated lived experience advocates to call upon.

Publish with us

As evident through this newsletter, my team and I are always writing, and always seeking opportunities to publish more. From opinion pieces to lived experience stories and even artworks, we’d love to partner and publish something together. If you have a topic you’d love to explore and a platform in need of some new content, let us know!

Join the Integrity Army

The Integrity Army has been growing strong, with an upcoming planning day in September. If you’re interested in joining our ecosystem, you can express your interest here:

Join the Integrity Initiative Team! – Fill in form

Slay Takeaways

The Indian Bullfrog spends most of the year a dull, olive-green colour. However, during mating season, the males turn a Day-Glo yellow with indigo vocal sacs on their throats. Love LITERALLY brings colour into their life.

An African bullfrog with its throat sac inflated, sitting at the edge of still water with its reflection mirrored below, surrounded by green grass.

A few places to keep up with us between newsletters:

• Website: integrityinitiative.com.au

• Instagram: @integrity_initiative

• Rachael on LinkedIn, for the advocacy and sector-facing side of things: linkedin.com/in/rachael-burns-0bab68309

You are also MORE than welcome to book a meeting/ chat with me through Calendly - https://calendly.com/rachael_burns/30min?month=2026-08

Take care froglettes,