Peer Support Worker (Lived Experience)

at  Bendigo Health

JOB DESCRIPTION

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

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:
https://www.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health-reform/lived-experience
https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/lived-experience/lived-experience-workforces
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