Co-conveners:

Dr Caroline Lambert [she/her]
Director, Family & Carer Research, Tandem Carers. Victoria
Lecturer, RMIT Social Work and Human Services: School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
E: caroline.lambert@rmit.edu.au

Associate Professor Robyn Martin PhD [she/her]
Associate Dean, RMIT Social Work and Human Services: School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
E: robyn.martin@rmit.edu.au

Background

FaCRAN is a group of people who have a strong commitment to the inclusion of the everyday experiences of families and carers who live with, and, or support someone who experiences mental distress. We do this to:

• enrich our understanding of these lives and highlight systemic inequality;
• surface and privilege the hidden and unexpressed stories of families and carers;
• challenge the individualised view of mental health support to include the relational; and,
• build evidence through experience and advocate for change to promote a better quality of life and opportunity for families and carers

The group does this through:

• A commitment to researching ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ or ‘about’
• Focusing on real life issues as defined by families and carers themselves that impact their lives, and those of the people they support
• Enacting a deep commitment to participatory methods
• Encouraging people with a lived or living experience of caring to join the network
• Ensuring that researchers and academic network members are committed to elevating family and carer experiences
• Gentle, accessible, thoughtful and non-exploitative research practices
• Creating the conditions for families and carers to build capacity so that they lead and contribute to research and advocacy, which leads to social change.

Who are we?

We are a group of advocates, academics, researchers, educators, community members and students who come from a diverse range of discipline backgrounds, united by a singular purpose – to honour the varied experiences of families and carers through curiosity, expertise, experience, and ethical enquiry.

Our members hold key platforms in the family and carer mental health arena, and they are dedicated to system change through their research impact. Members are highly published and regularly present at national and international conferences, and symposiums, as part of critical policy and advocacy discussion related to family carers in mental health and wellbeing spaces.

Contact us:
facran@rmit.edu.au