A Conversation About… Building Engagement and Trust through Communication

Disclaimer: The following transcript has been autogenerated and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies resulting from the automated transcription process.

Host (00:01):

Hi there. Welcome to Mental Health Professionals Network podcast series. MHPN’s aim is to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary collaborative mental health care.

Victoria Erskine (00:18):

Welcome to MHPN Presents A Conversation About. My name is Victoria Erskine and I’m joined today by Christine Kaine. Welcome Christine.

Christine Kaine (00:27):

Thanks, Victoria. It’s really nice to be here.

Victoria Erskine (00:28):

Great to have you here and having this really interesting conversation I hope our listeners enjoy. Today we are talking about how engagement and trust are maintained in complex stakeholder environments, particularly when treating and supporting people with co-occurring mental and physical health conditions. I’ve come to this topic in my role with Equally Well Australia as communication lead, where my job primarily is to help advise our very small backbone team about how we work with stakeholders in our sphere of influence, which is around a hundred member organisations. And the movement is really founded on the principles of a social change framework called Collective Impact, and that is really about a social change movement based on increasing power and equity for people with a lived experience or for those who are most affected by the social change we’re targeting. So social change is really a complex beast with the impact of technology and increasing polarisation and changes in the media landscape and issues like lack of trust in governments, we are creating this really complex environment.

(01:36):

So I came to this work wondering how with my experience as a communication professional, I could help build better relationships with our supporters and stakeholders and also make a contribution to how we as an organisation communicate in a really, not only complex social environment, but also with multidisciplinary stakeholders. So Equally Well is a movement that includes clinicians, NGOs, government, non-government organisations, consumer and carer advocacy groups, and a whole range of diverse stakeholders working together to help our mission, which is closing the life expectancy gap for people living with mental illness or mental health challenges by addressing their physical health needs. So this is where I met Christine, which is so great that you’ve agreed to join me today. Christine is one participant in 32 interviews I’ve conducted for my PhD study into communication in Collective Impact and we met also doing a research project in a partnership a couple of years ago. So Christine, I’d love to hear why you think this is an important issue and why you agree to have this chat today.

Christine Kaine (02:43):

Thanks, Victoria. I work as the operations manager with Lived Experience Australia. We’re a national systemic advocacy organisation, primarily focused on the private sector but also broader than that. Look, I think that I work in a very complex environment, so we work very closely with individuals, with lived experience, with peer workers, with clinicians, organisations, government departments. So there’s a lot of power issues in those discussions and bringing people together and I guess a lot to unpack. So with Lived Experience Australia, we really feel that relationships are the key connections with people are the key. That’s how you build trust, that’s how you build engagement. So I was particularly keen to talk about this through your research project to sort of look at what it looks like from our perspective.

Victoria Erskine (03:31):

That’s great. So in that sense, are you ready to do a deep dive? It’s quite a broad topic. We are looking at stakeholder communication, but we’re also really wanting to make sure that everybody sees or understands that good communication starts with good relationships at every level. So we’ll cover issues like interpersonal communication skills, team communication building, and how we then work as individuals within organisations and then going outside those organisations how we work with other organisations in bigger networks. So we think a lot of what we’ve got to say is about the foundations of good communication anywhere. So we hope that people find something in it for them no matter what their role is in the health or mental health system. So thought we might kick off with, one of the things that’s come out of the interviews I’ve had so far in the discussions and experience in Equally Well is that communication is one of those assumptions that people just make about how it happens. It’s just a thing, it’s just there. So there’s a lot of focus on communication as an output. We talk about marketing strategies and even boosting engagement and content relations strategies. But what do you think are some of the biggest assumptions people make about communication from your experience with in your role, but also in your connections with others as multidisciplinary stakeholders.

Christine Kaine (04:50):

We make assumptions about what people might want or need from us. Sometimes those assumptions might connect or might be true, but I think that there’s often a disconnect – great intentions, but not necessarily hitting the mark with what people are needing from us. And what we’ve learned, particularly within the lived experience space is that that can cause harm as well. So we’ve got to be really careful with our communications and how we go about it. I think we need to consider different communication styles for different audiences. So in the earlier days of lived Experience Australia, we would send out the same communication to everyone, whether it’s a government department, our lived experience network organisations, and found that generally we were writing it or sending out the communications aimed more at the organisations, which means we didn’t connect with those with lived experience. And that was I guess a really important connection for us to have given our work.

(05:44):

So we now do things quite differently. We have very specific communications for our lived experience network and in that we show a little bit of vulnerability, we share a little bit of ourselves to show that we are also human, that we also have experiences as consumers or carers and family members or both. And there’s nothing that we’re asking for from that communication, where we’re sharing and we’re making connections. And we find that with that we get so many responses from people that we have connected. We also get responses from people saying, oh, I didn’t really like how you said this, which helps us to learn and to develop from that. Whereas when we are communicating with organisations or government departments, it looks a little bit different. But what we have learned I think from all of that experience is even when we are communicating with government departments or organisations, the importance of sharing the lived experience voice in that is what creates connections. So we are all human and we need to connect in some way. So by sharing some of those voices and connecting on a personal level, whether it’s with professionals or with consumers or carers, that’s what makes the connections.

Victoria Erskine (06:53):

That’s so interesting, isn’t it, about that audience piece, which is a fundamental part. So my full-time job is lecturer in strategic communication. So in that role I’m teaching emerging professionals the foundations of strategic communication. And knowing your audience is fundamental, but when we get into smaller teams or even one-on-one interactions in professional scenarios, we often forget that audience piece and it’s the person in front of you and what their needs are as opposed to what your agenda is. And so one of the things that drew me into this work was when you have organisations or small working groups that represent differing organisations coming together and they bring with them their own agendas from their own organisations and then you’re actually working towards, you might have really good intentions, but unless there is some deliberate process around how you’re going to communicate what your purpose is in coming together and understanding and listening, sometimes the challenges to those projects or those intentions get derailed. I term it in some ways so far as we are walking into these communication minefields because there’s so many assumptions about what other people are in the room for or how they’ve even landed in the room or in the place that you are together to make that change. Is that something that resonates with you?

Christine Kaine (08:10):

Look, I think particularly so Victoria, when you think about advocacy and advocacy is often about sharing your experience so that other people can understand. You don’t go into the conversations to understand where others are coming from. And I think that that’s something that makes LEA a little bit different in some ways is that we very much want to build relationships and although there are key messages and things we want people to understand, we do it by first hearing their perspective and trying to understand their perspective. I think that if you can understand where someone else is coming from, you’re more likely to be able to influence them. If you go in and you just kind of fight the good fight and say all the things that need to be said or all the things that are not working, you don’t build that relationship. And so I dunno that people hear you in the same way, really take in sort of what you’ve got to share. So I think one of the key things is really listening to understand, wanting to understand someone else’s perspective, even if it’s very different to your own. That’s what helps us to build that connection so we can influence.

Victoria Erskine (09:14):

And that’s a great point. To that point with Equally Well, one of the great joys I’ve had in this whole role and I’ve learned so much is when we come together with all those different perspectives to do a project, for example, we have an annual, we used to call it a symposium. We had a lived experience centred event last year that was a slightly different thing. It was called a forum. And we’re moving towards a new type of format because what we’ve discovered in the intention of that space is we bring all our different stakeholders together. So we are in one space and one place together. And as a physical event, it’s had lots of success and lots of really positive feedback. We hear the latest research, we hear lived experience, perspectives working alongside clinicians and you get some really great stories out of that.

(09:58):

But last year we shifted slightly the focus and it was fully designed by our lived experience experts in a team setting. And it was a whole led by lived experience leadership. So the tone of the event changed and in a sense the same sort of people were represented, but the power and the notion and the messaging sort of shifted slightly and there was a different energy and it became a really interesting exercise. And now for this year, for 2025, we want to again create something where, a place where people feel really connected, but it was all about intentional communication to that different landscape that we were moving into. Is there some sort of tactics that you’ve tried with Lived Experience Australia that you’ve had to make that deliberate attempt to address maybe a complex issue or a challenge and that you’ve made an intentional move in terms of your communication to help enable that trusted relationship to continue with your supporters?

Christine Kaine (10:55):

Yes. Look, I think we pretty much do that every day. Look, I think it’s interesting, we do a lot of consultations. We do a lot of co-design or co-production work and we very much have to be mindful that we are not going in there with our own agenda and what we want to achieve out of it. But listening to others and developing and building from that, it’s not easy to do when you are someone who’s a task focused person. You just want to jump to the result or the product or the endpoint with whatever ideas you’ve got in mind. So it’s a really hard thing to do for many people. So when we are running consultations ourselves, it’s a bit easier because that’s what we do and we’ve come to learn how to do that in a way that gives everyone voice and opportunity to be heard and build on.

(11:41):

But that’s not so easy when we are doing that in partnership or promoting other organisations who might be doing that or other researchers or clinicians that might be undertaking that work. So we do try where we can to do a bit of pre-work with them around how to approach it. Facilitating a forum or a discussion like that is not easy and takes a lot of skill and it’s difficult, as I said, not to bring your own agenda or ideas to it. We see over and over again the benefits of it being open and not having that agenda. We come up with some amazing things that we would never have been able to do otherwise, but it’s something that takes practise and takes a deliberate effort. You need to be really clear that you’re not going in with your own ideas. A colleague once coined the term to me, consult holding instead of consultation. Often we go into these environments and we are pretty much told what we are meant to be providing input into and what our responses are. So it’s a really difficult thing to do. It seems like common sense, but it is something that can be quite difficult to do, but so important.

Victoria Erskine (12:47):

And that’s part of the tension, isn’t it, in creating excellent or really supportive communication cultures. And the experiences I’ve had sometimes is we might get a group together like a community of practise on a particular issue or topic or professional network and we keep the agenda really loose because we want the participants to drive what’s going on. But again, that’s an assumption that everybody in the room comes with that mindset. So the intention to be open and collaborative can often also mean that we’ve made assumptions about the confidence, communication, competence, and confidence of members of that group. So then other groups will certainly relate better when you have a really fixed agenda and they know what’s coming up. So I think to your point, it’s the preparation and it’s the pre-work that goes into any kind of meeting project starting or kick-starting a big research project, running an event that everyone’s clear about expectations and what is going to happen so they can come prepared as opposed to attending something with all the good intentions and keeping it loose.

(13:49):

And then people freezing or there’s been heaps of dead air in the room and people leave feeling a bit deflated. I often like to throw in conversation starters or I have an image bank that I put up and get people to choose how they’re feeling that day and give us a two word statement. So little warmup things, but it’s a little bit vulnerable to put those sort of tools out there with people like experienced researchers or heads of government departments and people with lived experience and their different backgrounds and where they’re coming from. So it is about vulnerabilities, isn’t it? A large part of the work that we do in communication, it’s a science and then there’s a lot of feeling that’s going into it as well.

Christine Kaine (14:27):

Yes, absolutely. And I think one of the things that we don’t do often enough is asking people, what would you like? How would you like to do this? What works for you? We make assumptions about what might be the best way to do it. We make assumptions about people with lived experience and that it should be in this way or they have these particular support needs without asking. And that’s the sort of stuff that takes away the human rights. Having control over yourself and what you do and what your role is in something, it’s really significant and can have a huge impact. We’ve certainly had consultations where we’ve done a debrief afterwards with an individual who’s been really impacted by the discussions that have happened and caused a lot of harm in the discussions that have happened. So it does take a lot of experience to work through that. But I think one of the biggest things that we can do is say if you’re consulting with a group or you’re doing an interview or you are, whatever communication there is, what would you like from me? What can I do? How can I do it? What is the best way to do this? And then actually doing it in the way that they’ve identified.

Victoria Erskine (15:32):

That’s such a great tip. It’s something I really strive to do in my work and I actually had a big sticky note on my wall of my office last year that said ask more questions. I mean, I’m trained as a journalist, I’m professional in communication and still it’s something that you have to be reminded to do because it’s not always the natural thing when you’re on that task or that focus or you’re on a mission. And the thing with social change movements like the ones we’re involved in, there’s a sense of urgency to the work we do. And I expect this is the same in clinical practise. Of course, the pace at which we’re expected to have an impact or produce an output puts pressure on us to move at that pace. So I very much reflect on communication as a tool for slowing down and being intentional at the same time, balancing that need for urgency and action. So that’s one of the tensions that I struggle with when I’m part of a small project team with a very limited budget, with this huge aim to close a life expectancy gap. It’s not all up to us, of course, but it is our role to facilitate the processes that bring people together to make those changes. Is that something that you reflect about or think about in your practise and in terms of your communication agendas or challenges that you have in your role?

Christine Kaine (16:47):

Absolutely. And we have to actually remind each other of this all the time. For example, just in the last couple of weeks we’re doing a co-design group. This one’s actually over a long period of time, which we’re not used to. So we’ve got the space to take things slowly, which we’re not used to. And in that we kind of said, well, we think we should do this, this, and this. And it took a bit of reflection to go, hang on a minute, what do you need? What do you want? Because you forget it’s, again, it’s all good intentions, but you kind of forget to ask what people need. And so an example was in this session we had one person who disconnected from the online session and I thought, oh, are they disconnecting because they’re upset that something’s happened? Did technology just fail them? What’s happened?

(17:35):

And our structures are that we would contact people, it was just a technology glitch, but when the person came back in, we said, actually something we should have done at the beginning of this and we didn’t do was ask you if you do get disconnected, how do you want us to respond to that? Do you want us to send you a text to check that you’re okay? Will you let us know if you’re just taking five minutes or whatever it may be. And we do this all the time, yet it’s something that we didn’t do at the beginning of the session, something that’s pretty standard to do. So I think one of the big things is it’s okay to show a bit of vulnerability and go, hang on, we missed something important. Let’s do this now. It’s never too late to do it. And it was a fascinating conversation because everyone has different support needs and different support networks, et cetera. So the response was actually different for different people. So it wasn’t about doing the same thing for everyone either. And we can adapt to that, we can work with that, but we have to remind each other quite regularly as well. Hang on. Are we making an assumption about what should be done here or are we finding out?

Victoria Erskine (18:43):

I love that idea of building communication. Confidence in others I think is really an important part. I’ve been involved in many small teams over the years in bigger projects and often the communication which is seen as an output rather than a process, which is also something that I’m constantly trying to reeducate people about. It’s the process as much as the output that you’re looking for is that you often find that you’re not able to articulate what is the bigger picture that’s coming up because you get really focused on the minutia and the tiny details and stepping back and giving yourself that time for a moment of breath and space and is really important. And one of the things that participants in my research told me actually, and many of these were busy people, leaders, senior leaders in their fields or their organisations, they really valued the 45 or an hour, 60 minutes I gave them to just discuss communication, something they don’t do so as individuals.

(19:43):

So they reflected on their own team building skills, their practise in terms of interpersonal relationships within their teams. And then many of them talked about how they work as organisations with other organisations. So went out into that bigger picture and talked about that role. So just that time and space to stop and reflect on your own personal practise they told me was really valuable in itself. But where do you think as an organisation you build a really strong communication culture at LEA? Or is that something that has been deliberate about your work or is it something that’s just happened because of the types of people that you attract?

Christine Kaine (20:18):

I think it’s been an evolution is probably how I would describe it. It certainly wasn’t deliberate in the earlier days. I think it’s that because our values are that we are transparent and open and genuine and we listen. And so because of that, we’ve learned a lot along the way. We’ve learned to do things differently and we have discussions about these things. So I think that that idea about having this time to reflect, I think it’s important to have your own reflection opportunity, but it’s also really important to reflect with others because we get caught up in our own perspective, our own world, our own way of seeing things, and you can’t necessarily see outside of that. So having other perspectives to provide input into that is really important and it’s something that we don’t do often enough.

Victoria Erskine (21:03):

It comes back to that asking of questions and what do I need? How can I help? That kind of approach. I loved the example that you shared with me in our interview when we were doing your research about a deliberate decision that LEA made around a bigger social issue and how you were targeting your communication. Would you mind sharing that story with us? I thought that was just a really great example of intentional communication.

Christine Kaine (21:28):

It was around the tragedy that happened at Bondi a little while back after that happened. I guess our immediate thought was we want to connect with our network. We want to check in on people, we want people to check in on themselves to be aware that you might not be in that location. You might not have known anybody that was involved in that, but the media was everywhere. There was no escape from what’s out there on the media, and there’s a lot of other impacts that it can have. So we made the choice to send out a communication basically saying, this could be hard for you and it’s important to reach out to your support networks during this time. And I guess we showed a bit of vulnerability in connecting with people in that what I thought was interesting was that was kind of our immediate response.

(22:15):

We just wanted to connect with people and check in with people. And then in all of the media and all the LinkedIn and Facebook posts that we saw, there were a lot of organisations that said yes, this is an opportunity to highlight your advocacy. It is an opportunity to say, this is why we do this and this is why this is important and this is what we’ve been doing for all these years. But we made a deliberate choice not to do that. It wasn’t about self-promotion, it wasn’t about showing the work that we do. It was purely about connecting. And it was fascinating because the email responses that we got from this email that we sent out was significant. So we received a lot of messages and people saying things like, I really just needed to hear that today. And so the impact that this had connected us with our audience, it was a relationship building thing.

(23:04):

It helped create more connections, those emotional personal connections. We did do some communication specifically for media around the impact that they’re reporting can have and being careful about how you report about things, how you talk about mental illness, mental health challenges, and the impact that that can have on people. And that was done specifically to media outlets. So we didn’t send that to our broader network. We were very specific about who that went to. And I think what was quite fascinating about all of that as well was that we had an organisation contact us and say, we’d like to do an e-news next month, and we’d like to include your experience and some personal words from you. It’s not the way that we would normally communicate out there to the sector, but the approach that you had hit a chord with us. So not only were we connecting with the lived experience community, we connected with organisations, with clinicians, with government. And I think it’s interesting because when we send out our e-news each month, for example, our executive director, Sharon Lawn, she always shares a little bit of something about her. And there would be many people that would think you shouldn’t do that. You are the executive director, it’s about business. You shouldn’t have that openness, but it’s a little bit of something. And that’s the sort of thing that really helps connect with people. So I think that’s why the communications we sent out at that point had such an impact for people.

Victoria Erskine (24:29):

And I think that’s an awesome example of that. Deliberate communication or intentional communication. So in Collective Impact working this social change movement, there’s this imperative to have this concept called continuous communication, meaning that we’re always staying connected. And especially when you’re building engagement and relationships with diverse stakeholders, they need to hear from you or they need to relate to you regularly. So it’s a constant thing, but at the same time, there’s a bit of tension around how much is too much, and does that mean we have to be everything everywhere all at once. And as an organisation that isn’t really an organisation, so we’re an intermediary, we don’t actually do the work of working with people at client service level or anything. We’re really a policy advocate and a connector. And so we bring people together. So there’s always this tension between are we in every conversation about mental and physical health?

(25:21):

That is a lot going on. Which month do we focus on, on Mental health month in October? Do we focus on all the different things that are happening? So you’re always juggling the priorities and having to work out what is that priority, which is the tension of my role and the team that I work with. But at the same time, we want to be able to be out there so people don’t forget Equally Well and what it is that we’re about so that they connect with each other and build better networks. So when we get together, we try to maximise those connections so they are really strong and valuable so that we can go back into the background and just do that work of connecting people rather than having to be out there out the front all the time. So with that particular issue with the Westfield Bondi Junction tragedy, we made a deliberate attempt not to inject ourselves at all.

(26:06):

In fact, it was raised by one of our stakeholders in a meeting as an issue, and we had to have a really deep discussion intentionally about writing the language around what our position was on it. And it really was a position of very sort of a general position about awareness of where people are and having inclusive language and things like that. But we really didn’t do anything on the forefront for our particular stakeholders. But again, it’s a constant cycle of revision and an understanding what the purpose is of your work, but also what the needs of your supporters or stakeholders or people you’re trying to engage with are at any given time. And the other element of this whole challenge is that everything’s changing. So as soon as you have a system or a process, you have a newsletter that’s going into people’s inboxes once a month, all of a sudden, newsletters design is changed and you’ve got to include a video in it, and you need to make sure that there’s a personal message. So I guess the fun part of the work that we do is we get to upskill and our communication is constantly evolving. So we feel like we’re repeating ourselves, everybody should know this. This is basic, right? The reality is the more things change, the more they stay the same, and there’s all that constant need to reflect and pivot. Is that something that resonates with you in your role?

Christine Kaine (27:15):

Yeah, absolutely. And I think just wanted to pick up on one of the points you made was around we don’t want to say too much or how do you communicate the right amount of things? And I find this fascinating. I also work in a role as a human resource manager with a large manufacturing company, and communication continues to come back as one of the areas that needs to be improved. And there’s always this fear of, well, if we say that we’re going to be doing this or we give too much information and it doesn’t happen, then people are going to be upset about that. So it’s best we don’t say anything, and it’s okay to say things like, we don’t have an update. That is communication. That is an important critical aspect to incorporate by saying nothing. People will speculate and wonder and come up with their own ideas and rumours will fly, but that regular giving updates, even if there might be confidential information or things that you can’t share, but thinking about what you can share and saying this may change if it changes, will tell you it’s changing.

(28:14):

It’s okay if it changes, but it’s the lack of communication that continues to be an issue. And I think that applies in any organisation. So when you’re thinking about a multidisciplinary team with lots of different stakeholders and things that are happening, there’s often a fear, and particularly from management about, I don’t want to say anything. We don’t know if this is happening yet, or we don’t know what the outcome of this is going to be, so we’re not just not going to say anything. So I think it’s a mixture of it’s okay to say, I don’t have an update. It’s okay to say we’re thinking about going with this, but we are not sure yet and we’re still working on it. That’s the stuff that builds trust and builds relationships. So then when you do say something, people will trust it and engage with it.

Victoria Erskine (28:53):

Yeah, that’s such a great point. And where I wanted to land I guess in this conversation a little bit, Christine, was around the idea of communication, leadership. So I’ve spoken with a lot of leaders and a lot of people who don’t see themselves as leaders, but actually are in their little spheres of influence. And I think that what my research is telling me, and certainly my professional practise, is that communication is everybody’s business leaders certainly have a role to play in setting a culture and demonstrating great practise of communication and creating teams where openness and people can feel safe. Good communication is about psychological safety. The end doesn’t matter whether you’re in a clinical patient or a service provider client situation, or you’re in a team with multiple stakeholders from different organisations or you’re in your own project team. If people don’t feel safe, and this came up regularly in the research I’ve been doing, then they’re not going to communicate with you. They’re not going to be open. So what do you think, just as our final point is thinking about the role of leadership and communication and how we can really build capacity in others, what do you think might be some of the ingredients to creating those cultures of excellent communication? Having people feel confident and safe?

Christine Kaine (30:07):

I come across this time and time again in all of the work that I do, and I think the biggest key is model it. And by model it, I don’t just mean keeping people informed and talking to people about what’s happening. I mean, be human, show a little bit of vulnerability. It’s not sharing your life story, it’s not sharing all your tragedies, but showing a little bit of yourself and a bit of personal touch and a bit of vulnerability. That’s what creates connection with people, and that’s what helps you to influence and support change. There’s this fear of if things didn’t go well, I just need to try a different way of doing it. Say something, say, I don’t think I did that very well. I’d like to try again. That’s what builds trust in the relationship, and it’s something that’s so hard to do in a professional capacity, particularly when you’re working in a clinical sense. I’ve also worked as a social worker and was very much taught, you’ve got to have this boundary here, but I think there’s a need to show a little bit of yourself to show that you are human, that you are genuine. That’s what creates the connection in communication.

Victoria Erskine (31:12):

I love that you’ve landed on that word, because if there was one thing that I’ve discovered in my nearly 30 year career in professional communication is that the human element trumps all the technical skills that you might have. All the fancy social media channels and AI induced conversation tools that you might roll out. If you can’t be a decent human or you’re not building those human qualities into your communication, then you won’t have the relationships that you need to do the work you do. And so I think it’s so interesting that that’s where we’ve landed today and thinking about what are those really key points that we want people to take away from this conversation. But I think what it narrows down for me is this idea of being intentional about the communication that you have, whether it’s in a one-on-one, a team-based, or a broader network or professional network base.

(32:01):

I think it’s really important to be clear about what’s happening. So aligning your purpose, making sure everybody’s on the same page when you enter a room, a space, a meeting, an event, really thinking about that clarity. And the other part that I know resonates really well with what you’ve discussed and more broadly, is this piece of listening and asking questions and thinking about those as fundamental skills that we can all invest in and develop no matter where we are, no matter what role we have in our organisations. I don’t know what your top tips are or where you feel about that.

Christine Kaine (32:33):

Yeah, I would completely agree with that. And I think we can’t expect people to be open with us if we’re not open with them. You can’t build trust without sort of that mutual relationship and understanding, and I think you will influence faster and support change quicker if you go into a conversation trying to understand the other person’s perspective.

Victoria Erskine (32:56):

I love that. Just brilliant. Yeah. Thanks, Christine. That’s been so great having this conversation with you. I really genuinely appreciate the time that you took to participate in my research, and it’s so wonderful to riff on this topic with someone who is as passionate about good communication as I am. So thank you so much for being part of my conversation today.

Christine Kaine (33:17):

My pleasure. Look, I really enjoyed it. Always enjoy a good conversation with you, Victoria. It’s been really great and it’s helped me as well to reflect on what we’re doing and what we could be doing and what I could be doing. So I think these conversations are important to have.

Victoria Erskine (33:30):

We’ll have do it again. So thanks for joining us on this episode of MHPN Presents A Conversation about you’ve been listening to me, Victoria Erskine –

Christine Kaine (33:40):

– and me, Christine Kaine.

Victoria Erskine (33:43):

We hope you’ve got something out of this conversation where we’ve discussed a lot of the things that we know are important about communication, about assumptions, about barriers and enablers to having great conversations and effective communication about those really essential building blocks that we all need to know in terms of how to be effective communicators in our own lives, but also in organisations that we work with and how we can really work better together to be sustaining viable communication networks within our professional spheres of influence. If you want to know more about Christine or my work, you can visit the Equally Well and Lived Experience Australia websites, those links, and some of the resources that we’ve mentioned will be on the episode’s landing page, so you can follow those hyperlinks. We’d love to hear your thoughts about this episode. On the landing page, you’ll find a link to a feedback survey. Please fill out the survey and let us know, did we give you what you needed in this conversation? Or you can provide comments and suggestions about how MHPN might better meet your listening needs. Excellent. To come to the end of asking more questions. Stay tuned for the next MHPN Presents podcast, which will be released Wednesday fortnight, thanks for your commitment and engagement with multidisciplinary mental health care. Thanks for joining us.

Host (35:00):

Visit mhpn.org.au to find out more about our online professional program, including podcasts, webinars, as well as our face-to-face interdisciplinary mental health networks across Australia.