Have your say

Have Your Say is Carers Victoria’s online hub to raise issues that are important to you in your caring role.

It’s a place where you can participate in surveys and provide feedback on research and matters impacting carers. We encourage you to take part in the opportunities below. Insights and feedback gathered will help build an evidence base for better support for carers, inform policy and decision making, and ultimately deliver better outcomes for the carer community.

 

Have your say on the following:

The Ahpra’s Community Advisory Council is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from patients, carers, community members, advocates, health services and health networks to discuss what safe healthcare means to you, and your understanding of how to make a complaint about health services or practitioners.

About Ahpra:

Ahpra is the national organisation that helps regulate registered health professionals in Australia. Its main job is to protect the public by making sure health practitioners are properly qualified, competent and safe to practise.

About the Community Advisory Council (CAC):

The CAC members are from around Australia that provide advice to Ahpra and the National Boards about community perspectives in health practitioner regulation and accreditation.  More information is available here: Ahpra CAC website

Who can be involved: Any Victorian person who is interested in sharing their perspective about health complaints, we would love to have a mix of rural, regional and metropolitan representation and a diverse mix of people that is representative of the Victorian community.

What is it:  An in person or online forum to understand your experiences of health complaints. 

When: 25 August 2026

Where: Online (Teams)  or in-person Pan Pacific Melbourne - 2 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf VIC 3006

Why: To provide the Ahpra CAC with insights into the Victorian experience and help shape our ongoing advocacy and advice.

EOIs Close: 5pm, Monday, 10 August 2026.

We’ll let you know if you’ve been offered a spot by: 13 August 2026.

Expression of Interest Form Need support to complete this expression of interest?  Please contact Michelle Powell at CACsecretariat@ahpra.gov.au or on 0416 865 418 and we can complete this form with you over the phone.

A research project at the School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, working alongside Dr. Michelle Townsend is underway to understand more about the informal support experiences of parents and carers of children in primary school who experience suicidal thoughts or behaviours, an area that is currently little understood.

The aim is to create a resource that can be used by family, friends and services to support carers in similar situations.

Who can participate:

Parents or carers of a child in Year 5 or 6 of primary school who experiences suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours.

What's involved:

A 30-minute anonymous online survey. Participants can also opt in to a 30-minute phone interview, but this is entirely optional. 

Download the recruitment flyer with links to further information about the project. Have your say

This study has been approved by the UOW Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval No. [H2026-0074]).

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Purpose of the study

Adolescence is a significant period of change, and families may navigate a range of health, education and community supports. By listening to the perspectives of adolescents, parents and siblings, this study aims to identify practical opportunities to improve the way support is accessed and experienced. 

Who may participate

Adolescents: young people aged 10–19 who have ADHD or suspect they may have ADHD.

Parents or caregivers: parents or caregivers of an adolescent aged 10–19 who has ADHD or is suspected to have ADHD.

Adult siblings: siblings aged 18 years or over of an adolescent with ADHD.

Participation and ethical safeguards

What participation involves

Participation involves one confidential, semi-structured interview of approximately 45–60 minutes. Interviews can be conducted online or face-to-face at a suitable time. Questions can be provided in advance, and participants may discuss whether having a support person present would feel helpful or appropriate.

Eligible participants will receive a $40 Prezzee eGift Card as a thank you for their time. Participation is entirely voluntary, and choosing not to take part will not affect any support or service they receive.

Privacy and wellbeing

The research team will obtain consent directly from participants. For adolescents under 18, parent or guardian consent and the young person’s assent will be required. Participants may decline any question, pause or end the interview at any time, and may withdraw before their information has been de-identified for analysis.

All information will be handled confidentially in accordance with Western Sydney University’s approved ethics and data-management procedures.

Ethics and contact

This research has been approved by the Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC H16828).

Researcher: Shant Ohannessian, PhD Candidate, School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University

To express your interest, please email.

Thank you for considering this request to support family-inclusive ADHD research.

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In this project, participants will receive a series of music therapy sessions at home. The aim of the project is to gain learnings about participants experiences and perspectives, such as what works well, what may not work as well, and why.

People from non-dominant cultural backgrounds remain under-represented in music therapy and dementia care. It is hoped this research will result in space being created for them to have a say.

If you would like any further information or have any questions, please email.

To express interest, fill out the Expression of interest form.

 

TRANSFORM is a five-year, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) funded research program, based at the University of Melbourne and delivered jointly with Monash University. Working across three Melbourne regions (North West, Eastern and South East), TRANSFORM aims to:

  • understand where and why care breaks down across primary, specialist and hospital services
  • co-design and test new ways to organise and connect care
  • evaluate what works and translate findings into policy and practice.

TRANSFORM is recruiting consumer partners for two roles:

  • a consumer partner on a Regional Integration Collaborative, a regional group doing the hands-on work of understanding where care breaks down and co-designing improvements. These roles are for people who live in one of the three regions
  • a consumer partner on the Translation and Policy Steering Committee, a program-wide group that helps the program's findings reach policy and practice. These roles are open to people across Melbourne, including those who represent consumers through an organisation.

Ideally, you care or have recently cared for someone with a chronic (long-term) condition, or you have that experience yourself. For the regional roles, we are especially interested in people who have moved between different parts of the health system, for example from a GP to a specialist, or from hospital back to community care, and know what those handovers are like.

Consumer partners work as genuine partners in the program, not as research subjects. The roles are paid, and no prior committee experience is needed.

Further details about the roles can be found here.

 

Posted: 1 July, 2026

Are you a former young carer?

A psychological research study is being conducted by the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at Federation University Australia.

Chief researcher Dr. Lester Watson and student researcher Raquel Hart are conducting a qualitative study exploring the influences of being a young carer on transitions into adulthood. This study has the potential to deepen our understanding on the experiences of Australian young carers and aid future advancements in support services for young carers and former young carers. We are seeking participants who are aged 18-30 years and were former young carers of a parent or guardian for a period of at least 3 years prior to the age of 18 years.

Participation in the proposed study is entirely voluntary, and all identifiable information collected during the study will be removed, and pseudonyms will replace names of participants in the final report to maintain confidentiality. The study has met all ethical and privacy requirements and received approval by the Federation University Human Research Ethics Committee (ethics reference number: 2026/073).

Participants will be interviewed online via Teams for around 45-60 minutes.

If you are interested in participating, please contact the team via email.

Feel free to share with your friends that meet the requirements above.

The National Centre for Healthy Ageing is conducting a project to identify research priorities for In-home Aged Care in Australia.

If you are receiving, working in, or passionate about, in-home care, you are invited to participate in a short 10-30 minute survey. As a thank you, participants will go into the draw to win one of 10 x $50 eGift Cards. Find out more and take the first survey here: https://monash.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bkeMgoZ2AogFZc2

If you have any questions, would like a paper copy of the survey mailed to you, or would like support to complete the survey, please contact ncha.nacren@monash.edu or 03 9904 4822.

This study has been approved by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC). Project title: Research priorities for Australian Home Care. Project ID: 50152



Communication Connect: Now Recruiting Carers

Communication Connect is a website developed as part of a government-funded research trial led by La Trobe University. It was co-designed with carers, people living with communication disability, health professionals, and researchers. 

The website includes:

  • A self-paced e-Learning program for carers
  • A Carer Needs Checklist that points you to resources based on your needs

You can participate in our research if you:

  1. Care for someone with a communication disability after stroke or brain injury, and
  2. Live in the Loddon-Mallee region of Victoria, Melbourne and surrounds, or Sydney and surrounds

Contact Communication Connect for more information:
Phone: (03) 9479 5080
Email: communication.connect@latrobe.edu.au

Watch the video: Communication Connect: The Carer Portal

Download recruitment flyer here.

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