Suzanne Garcia

Workplace Capabilities Educator

District Mental Health

“I’ve been a nurse in mental health for over 27 years. My current role is workplace capabilities educator. It is a new position that allows me to work with people across the district and support building capacity and leadership. It’s an opportunity to support changing cultures, ensuring that our consumers are at the heart of everything we do.

I’m passionate about making sure our consumers are treated with compassion and respect. I asked this question in a staff session I held recently: ‘What would you really need in hospital that you are not allowed access to?” The answers included a phone, real coffee and family.

I’m proud of a project where we put some small lockers outside the Sutherland Mental Health Unit for consumers’ mobile phones. They couldn’t have them on the ward, but they could place them in the lockers and collect them as they went on leave. Everyone’s phone is their life. The consumers and families loved it. The consumers were involved in the decision making around where the lockers should go and what they should look like. The consumer feedback was really, really amazing.”