Event Info
On World Sleep Day, and in recognition of International Women’s Day, the Sleep Health Foundation is hosting a special webinar on Friday 13 March at 1.30pm AEDT, centring women’s lived experiences of sleep disorders.
With up to 40% of Australians getting insufficient sleep and around 22% living with diagnosed sleep disorders like insomnia or obstructive sleep apnoea, women often face unique barriers to recognition and care. A panel of women from our Lived Experience Advisory Partners (LEAP) will share their personal stories –from first noticing symptoms, to seeking support and a diagnosis, to navigating treatment and the impact that both poor and improved sleep has had on their lives – resonating with the World Sleep Day theme, “Sleep Well. Live Better.”
Co‑hosted by Lived Experience Australia’s Executive Director, Prof Sharon Lawn, and LEAP’s Co‑Chairs, Dr Jenny Haycock and Dr Charlotte Gupta, with an introduction from the Sleep Health Foundation’s CEO, Dr Moira Junge, this session will highlight how women’s voices can drive more responsive, person‑centred sleep care for all
The Details:
- When: Friday 13 March, 1:30pm-2:30pm AEDT (1pm ACDT, 10:30am AWST, 12:30pm AEST start time)
- Where: Zoom webinar (live). A recording will be available via YouTube for those who cannot attend live (please register to receive a link).
- Hosted by: The Sleep Health Foundation, in collaboration with Lived Experience Australia (LEA)
- Format: Interview style Q&A
- Featuring:
- Introduction from SHF CEO, Dr Moira Junge,
- Facilitated/hosted by LEAP co-Chairs, Dr Jenny Haycock and Dr Charlotte Gupta, and LEA Executive Director, Prof Sharon Lawn
- Panel discussion with three members of SHF's Lived Experience Advisory Partners: Di (Narcolepsy Type 1), Lisa (PTSD and caring), and Rebecca (Obstructive Sleep Apnoea)
Meet our lived experience panelists:
Di
I have lived with narcolepsy since childhood, although I wasn’t diagnosed until the age of 49.
For decades, I experienced profound exhaustion and excessive daytime sleepiness without understanding that this was not normal.
Following years of misdiagnoses and extensive medical investigations, I was finally diagnosed with narcolepsy type 1.
Being diagnosed later in life has shaped a strong commitment to self‑advocacy, accurate information, and better care for people living with narcolepsy.
As a member of the Sleep Health Foundation consumer panel, I am passionate about raising awareness of narcolepsy, improving the information provided at diagnosis, and advocating for better long‑term support for the Australian narcolepsy community.
Lisa
My experience includes sleep abuse and, combined with the trauma of all the other patterns of abuse I was experiencing, my nervous system and sleep were severely impacted.
I'm also the main carer for my mother who lives with Dementia following an Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal dementia diagnosis. My mother’s issues with sleep sparked my own interest in the link between dementia and sleep, which is how I came across the Sleep Health Foundation.
Currently, I'm on a journey to learn more about sleep health and would love to share my experiences and insights with others who have similar life experiences.
Rebecca
A long time ago I had a specialist mention that I should go back to my GP and get a sleep study referral. Nothing was ever mentioned of it again. I didn’t feel this was an issue as I slept 8 hours most nights, if not more, it only took a couple of minutes and I was dead to the world. I am a deep solid sleeper. Once asleep that was it. After finishing my degree in Health Science (nutrition and exercise) I had a career change and took up a local position as a sleep apnoea consultant. As part of the job I brought a machine home to use on myself so I could understand more about the therapy to better help my clients. My husband loved it as my snoring, which had gotten worse in the last year or so was now gone, and he could sleep in peace (except for when my mask sprung a leak).
My first night was about 48 minutes. I couldn’t believe that people were able to sleep and wear a mask. I had a new found respect for anyone that could use it for 8 hours or even for those just using it EVERY night. I persevered with it and I found the settings that worked and a mask that worked for me. I also discovered that I could now sleep through the night. While I am a deep sleeper there was one thing that could wake me – my bladder. Interestingly, my need to go to the toilet several times during the night just disappeared. My aching muscles also over the next couple of months reduced. Oh and my sore throat, that I had had for years and was put down to silent reflux, gone.
Fatigue was still a real issue and there are some mornings I wake up wishing I could have more sleep. About 3 months into full time CPAP therapy I went to see my GP as the fatigue was only getting worse. That’s when I got a referral for a sleep study, even though I said I was using a CPAP machine – he thought we should check it out anyway. So I put it down as another experience I could share an understanding with my clients. Surprise, surprise, severe OSA was the results.
I love partnering with my clients and making them aware of all their treatment options as there is more than just CPAP for OSA. I also love partnering with people to help make CPAP work if that is what they need to do. CPAP is not a one size fits all therapy. For me it took time to really settle in, but I’m glad I persisted and more importantly I have a great team helping me along this journey.
Meet our hosts:
Dr Jenny Haycock
Jenny has many years of experience working in research and project management roles in health and education settings in New Zealand and Australia. She brings broad expertise in project management, qualitative research and implementation science skills, community and stakeholder engagement, consumer co-design, and translation of research to real world settings. Jenny believes partnership and collaboration with people with lived experience of sleep disorders is essential to ensure the work of the Sleep Health Foundation is meaningful and addressing the most important issues. Jenny is the co-chair of the Sleep Health Foundation Lived Experience Advisory Partners (LEAP) group and co-chair of the Australasian Sleep Association Primary Care Council.
Jenny completed her PhD in 2023 at Flinders University. Her PhD explored the diagnosis and management of insomnia in Australia, identifying issues from the perspectives of people with sleep disorders and health care providers, and proposing ways to overcome these challenges. Jenny also works as a Research Associate at Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI): Sleep Health. Her primary research interests include improving access to effective behavioural treatment for insomnia, the management of sleep disorders in primary care and investigating new models of care for treatment of sleep disorders.
Dr Charlotte Gupta
Charlotte is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Appleton Institute. Her research focusses on optimising the performance and safety of shiftworkers by targeting on-shift behaviours such as eating. Her research interests include, shiftwork, cognitive performance, driving safety, nutrition, physical activity, and worker health and safety.
Charlotte completed her undergraduate honours degree in Psychology at the University of South Australia in 2015, and then began her PhD at the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of South Australia in 2016. Charlotte’s PhD work focussed on altering 24 hour eating patterns for shiftworkers to improve safety on shift, and she found that a snack during the nightshift is optimal for best performance.
Charlotte has experience with undergraduate teaching in Psychology, conducting laboratory research, and conducting field research with shift workers to look at the impact of shifts on meal timing.
Prof Sharon Lawn
Sharon is Executive Director of Lived Experience Australia, a national awarded mental health Lived Experience systemic advocacy, research and capacity building organisation, with over 25 years of Lived Experience advocacy. Sharon is also a Professor in Public Health at Flinders University where she has undertaken a broad range of translational mental health research for almost 3 decades; Sharon was SA Mental Health Commissioner in 2020-2, and previously worked in mental health, aged care and disability services in SA for 23 years. She is particularly passionate about addressing co-occurring physical health and mental health, stigma and coercion in care, and exploring the person’s and their family’s experiences of healthcare systems.
Dr Moira Junge
Moira commenced her role as the CEO of the Sleep Health Foundation at the beginning of 2022. She is a registered Health Psychologist and holds a Doctorate in Health Psychology. Health Psychology focuses on health behaviour change at an individual and population level so it was a natural transition for Moira to work across the clinical setting as well as the public health and health promotion setting. Moira has over twenty-five years’ experience in the healthcare sector and has worked in the sleep disorders field since 1994. She was a founding member of the Behavioural Management of Sleep Disorders Committee within the Australasian Sleep Association (ASA) and was the Chair of the ASA Insomnia and Sleep Health Council (2008-2015). She was on the board of the Sleep Health Foundation from 2016-2022 before becoming its inaugural CEO. Moira joined the Health Advisory Board at healthylife as one of its six members in 2022.
She is passionate about promoting the importance of good sleep health, providing the community with access to evidence-based solutions for sleeping difficulties, and about translating research into practical applications in our community. These are the main reasons she has pursued working for the Sleep Health Foundation and that drive her everyday work.