Lived Experience Project Officer

Requisition No: 5462
- Executive Division: Operations
- Division: Mental Health & Wellbeing Services
- Program: Mental Health Services
- Department: Consumer Consultants - Mid West
- Enterprise Agreement: Victorian Public Mental Health Services Enterprise
- Job Function: Mental Health
- Project:

- **Location**: Sunshine Hospital
- **Employment Status**: Fixed Term, Part Time until 30 June 2027
- **Salary**: Level 3 (Year 1 to 4) + Superannuation + Salary Packaging

**About the role**:
This role sits with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division of Western Health.

The Lived Experience project officer(s) will work in partnership with the Eating Disorders Early Intervention and Integration (EII) Clinical Lead to co-design a research based and clinically informed project focused on EII of Eating Disorders across Western Health. This role is suited to a person with a lived or living experience of mental illness, preferably an eating disorder, or a carer of a person with a lived or living experience of same. The EII Lived Experience project officer(s) are critical in ensuring that lived and living experience informs each step of the process.

The eating disorders EII project aims to help improve access to eating disorder treatment and care as early as possible. The project will also facilitate integration across mental health teams and other key services and teams at Western Health (such as general medication, women's and paediatric services), with the overall goal of optimising outcomes and ensuring continuity of care of people experiencing an eating disorder.

As this is primarily a project-based role it requires independent and autonomous work practices to identify systemic improvement and innovation opportunities, make recommendations for change, and take a lead role in delivering those changes. Lived experience workers also draw on their lived experience and other relevant work experience to provide input to the review and development of policy, practice guidelines and scope of practice.

**Key responsibilities**:

- Contribute to scoping the current state of care provision for people with eating disorders at Western Health, development of a business plan and implementation of the business plan, with an emphasis on improving early intervention for people with eating disorders and enhancing integration of services
- Advocate and promote the perspectives of people with lived and living experience and ensure their input is recognised and informs each step of the project (including research projects)
- Support and contribute to a range of research and clinical activities, including facilitation of internal and external meetings/workshops, contribution to development and delivery of training and supporting clinical teams to provide optimal care for people with eating disorders.

**About you**:

- Lived/living experience as a consumer of mental health services or carer of a consumer for same
- Sound knowledge of public mental health services in Victoria
- Demonstrated ability to liaise, consult, build and maintain networks and working relationships with a broad range of health professionals, community agencies and family/carer support organisations
- Sound work practice, time management, organisation and project planning skills, with the ability to deliver on agreed outcomes

**Position Description**

**About Western Health**:
Western Health is one of the largest healthcare providers in Victoria, caring for a vibrant, diverse and rapidly growing community of one million people in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

With more than 13,000 staff, Western Health delivers 800,000+ occasions of care every year, providing high-quality, person-centred care across every life stage.

We provide a combination of hospital, community-based, at-home and in-reach services to aged, adult and paediatric patients and newborn babies. Specialties include oncology, renal, mental health, women’s health and maternity, chronic diseases, geriatrics and cardiology.

We have remarkable strengths in chronic disease, complex care and developing innovative and sustainable healthcare solutions. Our experience at the coalface of healthcare delivery for some of Australia’s most culturally and socioeconomically diverse and vulnerable populations provides us with unique insights into the most pressing health challenges.

Western Health operates four acute public hospitals: Sunshine Hospital (including Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s), Footscray Hospital, Williamstown Hospital and Bacchus Marsh Hospital. We also operate Sunbury Community Hospital, Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre, Melton Health and Community Services, Bacchus Marsh Community Health Centre, Caroline Springs Community Health Centre and Grant Lodge Residential Aged Care in Bacchus Marsh. Western Health also provides the primary healthcare service at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a women’s prison located in Ravenhall.

**Why join us?**

**Compensation and benefits**
- Competi