Shine: Reference Group Members
Shine is currently recruiting people to join the National Reference Group to support the National Implementation and Monitoring Committee for Sharing the Vision.
Are you interested in becoming a member?
We are a national charity that supports people with lived experience of mental illness and their family members/supporters. We have been serving Ireland for almost 50 years. Our vision is of a more compassionate Ireland where those affected by mental illness and stigma are supported and included in all aspects of society. Shine is proud to have been the first national mental health organisation specifically founded to provide support for family members and supporters as well as the individual with lived experience of mental illness. We specialise in supporting and educating individuals, family members, and communities impacted by mental illness and stigma.
As part of the Department of Health’s (DoH) plans to ensure an effective, accountable, and evidence-based implementation of our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision – A Mental Health Policy for Everyone, the Department established a National Implementation and Monitoring Committee (NIMC). One of the key priorities of NIMC is to ensure that the values of ‘recovery’ and ‘person-centeredness’ espoused in Sharing the Vision are prioritised in all aspects of the implementation of the policy.
To achieve this, having access to a group of people with lived experience and public voice is paramount. The NIMC Steering Committee/DoH selected Shine to host a suitably skilled and resourced Reference Group to provide that perspective as part of the monitoring process.
This Reference Group was set up in April 2022, and members have been working together since then under the leadership of a Reference Group Chair and supported through the coordination of the Shine secretariat. The group has so far successfully contributed to 11 Sharing the Vision monitoring reports.
The group began its second three-year term in April 2025. Members convene quarterly, with two of these meetings dedicated to advising the NIMC Steering Committee as part of formal reporting procedures.
A recent analysis of membership diversity highlighted the need to enhance the visibility of specific priority groups within the Reference Group. This effort aims to ensure the group reflects the diversity of the wider population in Ireland more accurately.
Shine is therefore launching a round of recruitment to welcome four new members who can represent the following priority groups within the Reference Group:
- Homeless and Rough Sleepers
- Experience with the Irish Prison System (IPS)
- Behavioral Addiction
- Experience with the National Forensic Service
- Victims and survivors of human Trafficking and Exploitation
- Non-verbal community
- Deaf community
- People living with intellectual disabilities
- Vulnerable migrants (Refugees, International Protection Applicants and/or beneficiaries of temporary protection)
- Members of the Traveller and Roma community
Requirements
- You belong to one of the priority groups mentioned above, and you are one of the following:
- mental health service user
- family, friend, or carer/supporter of someone with a mental health difficulty
- have an interest in mental health care and services
- You have an interest in:
- the implementation of policy in mental health, especially in relation to improving engagement, based on principles such as co-production and person-centeredness
- work that embeds the importance of the policy being connected and grounded in the views of those with lived experience
- human rights and advocating on behalf of those who are vulnerable and unheard at present.
- reviewing and considering reports and providing feedback
- You can commit to attending four meetings a year. The meetings will use a hybrid approach of online and face-to-face to provide access to as many people as possible. Meetings will be held in accessible venues in Dublin. In advance of meetings, Reference Group members review reports and materials and provide input or feedback as needed to support ongoing work.
We are committed to ensuring the Reference Group is inclusive and accessible to all. If you require any accommodations during the application process, please let us know.
Please see attached:
- Application Form
- Privacy statement for applicants
- Reference Group membership profile
- Remuneration Agreement