Consumer Peer Worker

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• Make an impact on the lives of young people experiencing mental health challenges, their families and carers connected with the Adolescent Inpatient Unit
• Part time permanent opportunity (24 - 32 hours per week – 3 to 4 days negotiable)
• Heidelberg location, with multiple public transport options available

Austin Health is the major provider of tertiary health services, health professional education and research across three campuses in the north-east of Melbourne and statewide. We have a highly engaged, diverse and collaborative workforce that is unified by our goal to help people live healthy and fulfilled lives.

About the Adolescent Inpatient Unit

The Adolescent Inpatient Unit (AIPU) is a 24-hour acute inpatient unit which aims to provide short-term, multidisciplinary, safe and recovery focused assessment and/or inpatient treatment for adolescents (age 13-17). This occurs in a least restrictive manner when they cannot be treated and/or assessed safely and effectively within the community. Care aims to be responsive to the young person and their family/carer’s needs and requirements and build on and strengthen their community support systems.

AIPU is part of the broader Infant Child Youth Mental Health Service (ICYMHS) which provides specialist mental health services for people aged between 0-25 years and support for their families, carers, and other supports. Multidisciplinary teams (inclusive of medical, nursing, allied health and people with lived and living experience) provide services including assessment, diagnosis, treatment and clinical case management. These services are provided in community-based services, acute inpatient units and several residential settings.

About the role

As the Consumer Peer Worker, you will be an integral member of the Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS) AIPU multidisciplinary team. Drawing on your unique lived experience and perspective as a consumer who has had an admission to a youth mental health inpatient unit, you will contribute to the provision of recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, evidence-based peer support interventions to families and carers of young people experiencing mental health challenges or psychological distress. 

A regular day will see you:

• Provide peer support to consumers in the AIPU, using personal lived experience to model hope and recovery.
• Contribute to the maintenance of a positive, inclusive, and responsive therapeutic milieu, through supporting consumers which leads to improved experiences of therapeutic care and outcomes.
• Collaborate as an integral member of the AIPU team to support the ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement of the agreed model of care.
• Identify and pursue opportunities for staff education that enhance understanding of and respect for the lived experience role.
• Participate in the Austin Lived Experience Worker Network meetings and peer meetings, contributing to quality improvement, policy development, and program enhancement within the Mental Health Division.
• Build and maintain supportive relationships with consumers, using trauma-informed and person-centred care approaches. 

About you

You will be someone who brings their unique skills and first-hand experience of using mental health services to this role. You will have a sound understanding of mental health peer support principles and the ability to use peer support to provide hope and recovery. You will also openly accept and reflect on the impact of the demands of the role on yourself and seek out support and advice to assist you in the role.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring with you:

• Lived experience as a person who has received treatment in a public mental health inpatient unit, with the ability to draw on this experience to support consumers and collaborate with colleagues. 
• Understanding of mental health peer support principles and the capacity to use peer support to foster hope and belief in recovery. 
• A strong understanding and appreciation of recovery principles, including social connectedness, holistic care, and peer-led examples of wellness. 
• Demonstrated empathy for and understanding of the broad impact of mental illness on consumers and their carers/families. 
• Ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team – confidently expressing personal viewpoints while respecting the views of others – and the initiative to work independently, when required. 
• Cultural sensitivity and the ability to respond to the needs of people from diverse backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities. 

Our benefits

Working at Austin Health means enjoying a strong sense of purpose, engaging in meaningful work every day. Our people also receive a variety of rewarding benefits, including:

• Greater take-home pay through generous salary packaging for living expenses, meals, and holiday accommodation.
• A suite of wellness initiatives designed to support you, including discounts on fitness memberships and health insurance, and a comprehensive wellbeing program.
• Mentoring and career development opportunities.
• Onsite childcare at Austin Hospital, easy access via public transport and car parking options.

Work with us!

We are committed to cultural safety and health equity for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People. We celebrate, value, and include people of all backgrounds, genders, identities, cultures, bodies, and abilities. We welcome and support applications from talented people identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, people with disability, neurodiverse people, LGBTQIA+ and people of all ages and cultures.

If you feel this role is right for you, we encourage your early application. What matters most is your passion, your drive and your willingness to learn and contribute. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and interviews may take place prior to the closing date. This means we reserve the right to close a job ad prior to the advertised closing date.

All appointments are made subject to a satisfactory National Police Check and if required, a Working with Children Check. If you require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process or have questions about this opportunity, you are welcome to reach out to the hiring manager: Lisa Hutchings, Nurse Unit Manager, at Lisa.Hutchings@austin.org.au. 

Interested in finding out more about this opportunity? Read the position description for further details.

Application closing date: Monday 16 June 2025