Housing Industry: Understanding Lived Experience of Schizophrenia

Lived Experience Schizophrenia Seminar

When: Monday 16th February 2026

Time: 6pm - 7:30pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Where: Online on Zoom

30 minute Speech

1hr Question and Answer Time

Understanding Schizophrenia Through Lived Experience

For the Housing Industry – 1.5hr Online Seminar via Zoom

________________________________________

“How do you support someone when you don’t know what they’re truly going through?”

You may know the term schizophrenia, but do you know what it feels like?

For those working, studying, or volunteering in housing support or real estate, the people you serve often carry invisible burdens. When clients withdraw, disengage, or become distressed—what’s really going on behind that closed door?

In this powerful 90-minute seminar, Richard J. Bell, a respected Lived Experience Educator, shares his personal journey of living with schizophrenia. You won’t hear textbook definitions or clinical jargon—you’ll hear what it’s like to live with hallucinations, stigma, confusion, and recovery… from someone who’s been there.

Richard has spent over a decade training professionals just like you—helping housing and frontline workers understand the human side of mental illness. This isn’t about theory. It’s about empathy, real-world insight, and improving how you interact with the most vulnerable in your care.

By understanding lived experience, you gain more than knowledge—you gain perspective.

And that can change everything.

Online via Zoom | 1hr 30mins | Includes Live Q&A

Because people don’t just need housing—they need to be understood.

Meet Richard Bell — A Voice That Changes Minds and Opens Hearts

Since 2007, Richard Bell has been doing more than just speaking — he’s been reshaping the way people understand mental health. With raw honesty and unwavering courage, Richard shares his journey of living with schizophrenia since the age of eleven. Now in his forties, his story is not just one of survival, but of profound insight, resilience, and humanity.

Richard doesn’t just educate — he connects. His lived experience presentations aren’t clinical lectures; they’re transformative encounters. Through powerful storytelling, he brings audiences face-to-face with the reality of one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses. He turns stigma into understanding, fear into empathy, and silence into meaningful dialogue.

Over the years, he has inspired countless organisations across the country, creating safe spaces for learning, questioning, and deep emotional connection. Richard's ability to answer difficult questions with openness and clarity makes his sessions unforgettable — not because they’re filled with data, but because they’re filled with truth.

This is more than training. This is lived experience. This is the power of real human connection.

Let Richard Bell show your team what it means to truly see someone — and walk away changed.

Now imagine what your team could learn from that person’s story. Not just facts or theories—but real, human understanding. The kind that doesn’t come from a manual. The kind that can change how we care, how we listen, and how we respond.