Peer Support Worker

Location: North West Region | Maryborough

Job type: Not provided

Organisation: Bendigo Health

**Salary**: Salary not specified

Occupation: Education and Training, Health and Allied Health, Medical and Nursing, Medical, Nursing

Reference: 15634

**Work in an environment that offers**:

- A supportive environment for career progression and development
- An opportunity to further your career
- An opportunity to support the growth in demand for services

**The Position**

**Position Title**: Peer Support Worker - (Lived Experience)
**Classification**: MP32-MP35
**Salary per hour (exc. super)**: $34.17 - $36.25
**Hours per fortnight**: 64+ Hours
**Employment Status**: On Going - Part Time
**Other requirements**: COVID-19 Vaccination (3 doses)

Are you someone who has personally experienced mental illness or psychological distress and been a client of public mental health and wellbeing services? Do you have a personal experience of working towards your own recovery, a passion for mental health, and an interest in supporting other people through their own journey? This is an exciting entry-level opportunity for aspiring Peer Support Workers to begin their careers and develop their skills in a supportive and inclusive environment. Multiple roles available

**The Role**

This is a designated lived and living experience role and requires applicants to have a personal experience of mental illness or psychological distress. For more information about lived experience work and understanding if this is the right role for you, visit these websites:
Or contact **Steph Bradshaw,** **Consumer Advisor **with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Transformation Team on **03 5454 6968.**

Positions are available across multiple locations, including Kyneton, Castlemaine, and Maryborough. Travel between these locations and to and from Bendigo is an expected part of this role.

**What you’ll be doing**

The Consumer Peer Support Worker is an exciting new role sitting within our Southern teams. We currently have a number of lived and living experience staff across the Greater Bendigo and Rural North sectors, and we are excited to be expanding the workforce into the Rural South sector. The expertise, skills, and knowledge you’ve developed from your own lived experiences will make you an invaluable part of the Lived and Living Experience Workforce at Bendigo Health.

Peer Support Work is part of the Lived Experience discipline and focuses on building reciprocal relationships which are mutually beneficial and based on a shared understanding. Through this relationship, you will be able to support consumers through the social, spiritual, and even physical aspects of their recovery journey. In order to do this, you will draw on your own experiences of mental illness or psychological distress to provide insight, empathise, validate, and normalise the experiences of your clients.

As a member of our Peer Support workforce, your will work in collaboration with the other members of the multidisciplinary team to provide a high standard of support to consumers, both in the community and in inpatient and residential facilities. You will use your own lived experience of mental illness and psychological distress to model hope and recovery for the people you work with, sharing your story where appropriate and supporting your clients to develop strong connections in the community, normalise and validate their experiences, and work towards their personal version of recovery.

If you’d been here last week you could have:

- Attended a co-reflection with other members of the consumer lived experience workforce to engage in reflective practice and mutual supervision
- Engaged in on-on-one peer support with consumers in familiar and comfortable environments, sharing your experiences of recovery and learning from each other
- Visited clients on the inpatients wards in Bendigo and supported them through their admission
- Participated in a clinical team meeting and provided informal education to clinical staff on the benefits of lived experience work

**What you’ll bring**

A passion for mental health and wellbeing and excitement for supporting consumers, as well as:

- A lived or living experience of mental illness or psychological distress and/or alcohol and other drug concerns and engaging with the public mental health system
- A willingness and capacity to intentionally share your lived or living experience to model hope and recovery
- A compassionate approach to your work and the ability to engage with a diverse range of people from a place of non-judgement
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage your own schedule, as well as the ability to work creatively and collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team
- A demonstrated ability to engage in reflective practice, as well as a good understanding of your own support and self-care needs
- Willingness to undertake relevant Peer Work training such as Intentional Peer Support