Jay Gardener
Mx Jay Gardener (they/she) works on unceded Darug land as the Program Manager, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, at the Western Sydney PHN (WentWest). Jay joins the Suicide Prevention Australia conference holding dual lived and learned roles. They have previously worked in a designated role with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Collaborative and as an advisor on projects with the NSW Mental Health Commission, LGBTQIA+ Health, Agency of Clinical Innovation, AIHW and research projects with the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong. With a work history that spans education, peer work, events, retail, hospitality, theatre and sex work, and with credentials in Performance, Business and Auslan, Jay uses these viewpoints to drive systems reform through meaningful relational practices. Jay predominantly shares from an intersectional lens of being from a working class background in rural NSW, queer, trans, neurodivergent and as a person with lived and living experience of mental health, suicide, addiction and chronic illness. Jay offers their reflections with care - conscious of the privileges they hold - in solidarity with movements for social justice.
Abstracts this author is presenting: