Lived Experience Worker - Consumer Peer Worker

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• Fantastic opportunity to join the Central Youth Community Team at Austin Health 
• Consumer Peer Worker (Level 2) - Central Youth Community Team (CYCT), Austin Health ICYMHS 
• Permanent, part time role working 22.8 hours per week

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 Central Youth Community Team 

The Central Youth Community Team (CYCT) is one of several community outpatient teams within the Infant, Child, and Youth Mental Health Service (ICYMHS). It is a multi-disciplinary team that offers individual and group assessment, treatment, consultations, and a clinical case management service to young people with a variety of complex and severe mental illnesses and/or disorders.  

CYCT primarily provides services to young people aged 12-25 in the ICYMHS catchment areas of Banyule and Nillumbik. The service currently operates within business hours, with a view to expand operating hours in the future to improve accessibility in line with Royal Commission recommendations. 

About the role 

As the Consumer Peer Worker, you will be an integral member of the CYCT multidisciplinary team, working collaboratively within the team and broader ICYMHS teams to support young people who present with mental health concerns as well as to provide support to, their families, carers and communities.  

Drawing on your unique lived experience and perspective as a consumer who has had support from a public hospital based youth mental health team, 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 CYCT, using personal lived experience to model hope and recovery. 

• Collaborate as an integral member of the CYCT 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 from a public hospital based youth mental health team, 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. 

It is mandatory that all Consumer Peer Workers have:

• A diagnosed mental illness 
• A strong understanding of navigating the mental health system 
• A strong understanding of recovery 

In order to identify these requirements, we utilise the selection criteria within the position descriptions. We ask that cover letters are reflective of the selection criteria. Interview questions will also reflect the selection criteria. 

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 discounted fitness memberships and special offers on health insurance, and a comprehensive wellbeing program. 
• Onsite childcare at Austin Hospital, easy access via public transport and car parking options. 
• Mentoring and career development opportunities. 

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. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. 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, you are welcome to reach out to the hiring manager: Rowan Chipchase, Program Manager Youth Outreach at Rowan.Chipchase@austin.org.au

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

Application closing date: Friday 5 December 2025