Jillian has the ability to ‘connect the dots’ by bringing together groups that include corporate and not-for-profit leaders, philanthropists, diverse teams and people with lived experience who are at the heart of the issue.
Maybe it was being in the right place at the right time, a healthy obsession to embrace new opportunities, or simply her three decades of experience that has allowed her to cultivate highly developed facilitation and problem-solving skills. Couple this with strong networks and you have someone with the ability to help people understand diverse viewpoints and agendas to collectively solve complex social issues.
She has proudly and tenaciously:
* Influenced and led significant systemic change and consumer campaigns in chronic health issues to provide awareness, information, and solutions for those facing significant health challenges.
* Collaboratively produced pioneer material on various societal issues, including the real price of chronic health issues in Australia, the inclusion of people with disabilities in research, Australia’s state of play in MS nursing and development of Australia’s first Citizen Scientist online learning portal.
* Wielded extensive experience in designing and developing community consultation and consumer engagement programs for delivering successful stakeholder engagement strategies.
This is where storytelling, strategic health communications & journalism meet. It’s where books gets published, stories get told & people engage with policy makers to drive systemic change.
The Taking Control Book series: A trilogy of books providing a comprehensive guide for living with multiple sclerosis and chronic illness.
Jillian Kingsford Smith is a well-recognised subject matter specialist when it comes to talking about the impact of multiple sclerosis and chronic illness. She has explored the topic from 360 degrees, researching and publishing a formidable body of work that explores MS from multiple perspectives; that of the the person living with the chronic condition, along with their support or carer network and the wide range of specialists and community services unique to this area. Key themes include how to get on with life after experiencing a life-changing event, the ‘decluttering of life’ that it takes to move forward and how to find alignment by clarifying the priorities for you life.
Philanthropy and creating systemic change to solve the challenges inherent to treating or living with a chronic illness is also a significant area of expertise for Jillian.
Every talk is customised to drive the most meaningful impact, combining engaging stories, reliable research, and practical techniques that push audiences to leave the event with a fresh insight and zest for how get on with life and solve challenges in rational yet innovative ways.
Jillian’s lived experience - combined with her years of interviewing and working alongside people with chronic illness - provide a bold and inspirational perspective to the topic.
As an inaugural member of the Consumer Advisory Board to the RFDS, Jillian was charged with providing advice on consumer and community views so they are recognised and reflected in the organisation’s service design, delivery, planning and policy development.
Latest Story: “A Patient’s Voice for Care”
Jillian served on the Hopkins Centre Reference Group researching the support for ethical inclusion of people with acquired disability in research.
The final output was the Resource Guide “Deciding whether to participate in research: A community resource for Australians who live with a disability.”
Using the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research as a framework, this group explored peer reviewed and grey literature to articulate actionable strategies for optimum ethical engagement of people with acquired disability in research projects.
The group compared and contrasted literature derived strategies with recent consumer experience to produce best-practice frameworks that consumers, researchers and Human Research Ethics Committees could operationalise to optimally include people with acquired disability in research as collaborators in an ethical way.
