Lived Experience Lead

Wellways; Shepparton; Hybrid; AUD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary packaging

Meal allowance

Leave loading

Parental leave

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

Wellways invites applications for a Lived Experience Lead to strengthen peer practice within our Mental Health and Wellbeing Local in Victoria. You will provide leadership, supervision, and practice development to Peer Workers, ensuring lived experience informs planning and service improvement.

You will work with the Local service leadership team to embed recovery-oriented practice, mentor peers, and advocate for participant and carer perspectives in decision-making.

Qualifications

• Personal lived experience of mental health challenges and recovery.
• Extensive experience in mental health and/or AOD sector in a consumer perspective role.
• Completion of or active enrolment in Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work or equivalent.
• Formal training in Intentional Peer Support (IPS) or knowledge of IPS as a framework.
• Willingness to undertake police checks and working with children checks or NDIA checks.

Responsibilities

• Lead lived experience practice across the Mental Health and Wellbeing Local.
• Provide supervision and practice development to Peer Workers.
• Shape service planning with participant, family and carer perspectives.

Skills

Lived experience leadership

Peer work

Empathy

Collaborative

Education

Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work

IPS training

Tools

Intentional Peer Support (IPS)

Job description

Wellways is committed to reconciliation, lived experience and inclusivity. We strongly encourage and warmly welcome people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people with a lived experience of mental health and disability and people who identify as LGBTIQA+ to apply. Even if you only meet some of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

If you’d like to know more about our reconciliation commitment, click here Reconciliation | Wellways Lead and strengthen peer practice within a multidisciplinary mental health service Mentor and support Peer Workers to grow their capability and impact Help shape service delivery through lived experience leadership and advocacy.

About the Opportunity

This newly created role offers an opportunity to strengthen how lived experience informs practice across our Mental Health and Wellbeing Local. As our new Lived Experience Lead, you’ll provide lived experience leadership, supervision and practice development to Peer Workers, while helping the broader team to better understand and embed the value of lived experience in service delivery. Working alongside the Local service leadership team, you’ll bring participant, family and carer perspectives into service planning, practice improvement and decision-making. Through mentoring, guidance and advocacy, you’ll support Peer Workers to grow in their roles, strengthen lived experience leadership across the service, and contribute to positive outcomes for participants.

About You

You’ll be an authentic and values-driven lived experience leader who understands the power of peer work and recovery-oriented practice. You’ll bring empathy, self-awareness and a collaborative approach, using authentic relationships and shared learning to influence practice, support others' growth and promote the meaningful integration of lived experience across the service. You’ll also bring:

• Personal lived experience of mental health/AOD challenges and recovery, with capacity to use lived experience intentionally and purposefully in a senior designated role
• Extensive experience in the mental health and/or AOD sector, including in a designated lived experience (consumer perspective) role
• Completion of or active enrolment in Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work or equivalent peer work qualification
• Formal training in Intentional Peer Support (IPS) or demonstrated working knowledge of IPS as a practice framework
• Satisfactory National Police Check, Working with Children Check and NDIS Worker Screening Check, or willingness to undertake NDIS Workers Orientation module completion certificate

About the Service

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Local for Greater Shepparton, Strathbogie and Moira is part of the Victorian mental health reform, providing community-based support for people aged 26 years and over experiencing mental health challenges, including people with co-occurring substance use or addiction needs. Delivered in partnership between Wellways, APMHA Healthcare and GV Health, the service is community-led and informed by the experiences of consumers, carers and the local community. The partnership continues to strengthen an inclusive, accessible and responsive service that reflects the diverse needs of people within our community.

What we will offer you…

• A purpose driven culture where people can thrive, everyone is respected, and differences are valued
• An equitable, diverse, and socially inclusive work environment
• Salary packaging up to $15,899 enables you to spend a portion of your salary before it is taxed to pay for things like rent, mortgage repayments, car leasing
• Meal and Entertainment allowance via salary packaging up to $2,650 per annum
• Receive 17.5% leave loading every time you take annual leave
• Paid parental leave after 12 months of ongoing employment
• Access for you and your family to our Employee Assistance Program

For a confidential discussion about the role, we encourage you to contact Sally Whitelaw, Operations Manager on 0461 484 010.

We'd love to get to know you!

Wellways is committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people. Successful applicants must undergo a comprehensive screening process prior to their commencement.

Job Description Summary

Play a key role in strengthening peer practice and embedding lived experience in service delivery and improvement

Culture

We’re passionate about our work, which is enjoyable, challenging and rewarding. All of our teams work to ensure everyone can imagine and achieve their hopes and potential. We know that people are unique and the experts on their life and are not defined by impairments, diagnosis or labels. We aim to specifically promote safety and inclusivity for LGBTIQ+ and First Nations communities.

Wellways is a leading not-for-profit mental health and disability support organisation operating in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania. Our services span mental health, disability and community care and reach more than 7000 people each year. Our 2000 staff work to create an inclusive community where everyone can imagine and achieve their hopes and potential. We connect people, strengthen families and transform communities for individuals of all ages experiencing disabilities or challenges to their social and emotional wellbeing. Our Practice Principles guide how we work and interact with participants and partners, with our colleagues and within our communities. To see our Practice Principles poster visit https://media.wellways.org/inline-files/ww383_Practice_Principles.pdf Wellways Australia Limited is committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people. All applicants applying for roles within Wellways must undergo a screening process prior to their successful appointment We kindly request that recruitment agencies do not contact us.