Emily Unity is a lived and living experience professional who is passionate about advocating for the human rights of all people, regardless of background, identity, or intersectionality.
Emily is currently the Lived Experience Lead for the Royal Children’s Hospital, on the Committees of Management for VMIAC (State Consumer Peak) and Centre for Multicultural Youth, on the Boards of Midsumma and Intertwine, and advisory committees for UNICEF, Headspace, Beyond Blue, CYDA, Orygen, and many more.
As the Lived Experience Lead at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Emily established the inaugural Lived Experience Engagement Strategy. This includes the establishment of a Network and recruitment of over 1500 Lived Experience Advisors, marking the first meaningful and remunerated engagement of people with lived experience in tertiary children’s mental health.
For their work, Emily was recently awarded Mental Health Advocate of the Year, Youth of the Year, Disability Leadership Award, Innovation in Protecting Children Award, Children and Youth Empowerment Award, Community Leadership Award, 25 Under 25, 30 Under 30, and inducted in the first cohort of the Multicultural Honor Roll.
Emily grounds their work in their intersectional experiences of mental health, disability, LGBTQIA+, homelessness, neurodiversity, and being a young carer from a refugee and migrant background. Emily is drawn to Scope's Purpose and Values, which celebrate people, excel together, and act bravely and is excited about the opportunity to work with a dynamic and committed organisation.
Emily holds a Bachelor of Software Engineering from University of WA and post-graduate qualifications in psychology, with certificates in counselling and Mental Health Peer Work. Emily is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).