WMHD rolls round for another year and 2026’s theme is one that really resonates: Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change. Essentially it’s exploring - or inviting people to explore - the impact that people with lived experience (PWLE) of mental illness can have in mental health systems.

It sounds passive and done to us but it’s so easy to say. Somewhere in the grammar the event stops being something that happened and starts being something you are. A story about ourselves as if we are out of control.

As Movember draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on why this cause matters so deeply to me. It's personal. It's about my brother Phillip, and it's about the countless others who struggle in silence.