Lived Experience Forum

[Birdonawire]

I am interested to hear from anyone who might be wiling to share any experience they may have working in the field or any information or advice in relation to becoming a peer worker and ant thoughts of how well a person should be to undertake this work and if it's is ok to still be receiving treatment and experiencing symptoms if it's unlikely to impact on your performance (I am in that position but worked full time until quite recently for years successfully (if was difficult for me personally) but other than noticeably taking sick leave no one had idea I had a mental illness and certainly not the one I have been diagnosed (I'm sure people may have thought I was anxious but that's about it and I performed well in my job
Thank you in advance for any response

[Lunar]

Hello @Birdonawire,

A very warm welcome to the forums, the thread you started is a very interesting and helpful as working with mental health concerns can be tricky to manage but sometimes also helpful in coping and almost distracting for some.

It might be more about knowing that there are services that can help you with work and your mental health as employers are required to support you and make work more manageable if you find your mental health is being affected.

Ostara has some resources on their website you could read through:

Ostara

http://www.ostara.org.au/pages/resources.html

I guess in relation to peer support jobs, it really depends on how you think you can cope with this type of work in regards to your triggers and also discussing this with your counsellor or psychologist?

That's great that you are wanting to work in this area, I am sure you have lots of support and empathy to offer as you have some experiences yourself 🙂

Lunar

[Brand-Newday]

Hi @Birdonawire,

I feel only you can answer if you will be appropriate in a peer worker role, as not every body with a lived experince can be a successful peer worker. In my experience to enter the industry the benchmark seems to be that you take some further study. i.e. Cert IV in Peer Work or at least Cert IV in Mental Health. After you have undertaken this study, it will give you more of an idea to check if you are suitable. As you have touched on you need to be at a certain stage of your own recovery journey before you are able to help others.

My advice is that a peer worker needs to be passionate about staying well and possibly researches this topic in his/her own time. Ideally from "Sherry Mead's - Intentional Peer Support Model" it is two equals coming together with the focus of mental health well being. Most Peer workers love their job's as they are motivated to helping others and they use their own "skillset" of lived experince and individual recovery methods to experiment to see if this could work for the individudal you are working with. Learning "recovery Langauge" is a must. Being kind to yourself is a skill. Also ensuring you are not effected or triggered by situations that may arise, or that you dont trigger or effect someone else by disclosing your story is important to remember. But reflecting we are only human and comitting to continously improve will put you in good stead.

The good news is that Peer work is growing in the sector. There is already considerable evidence that peer workers achieve better results for individuals than those that did not receive some peer support. (I do not have the references to this at hand but this evidence is real.) There are many types of peer workers with many types of roles (not just peer support roles). Perhaps you may be able to use extising skills and also offer your lived experince.

I wish you well, and if it feels right go for it. I always like to trust "my gut". If you can visualise yourself in a peer worker role, take the next step in making it happen. Cheers