Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol and Drugs Services (MHJHADS) Division

MHJHADS plays a crucial role in providing tertiary and community health services directly and through partnerships with primary health organisations. Services range from inpatient hospital, community health and custodial settings. Service delivery encompasses a holistic continuum of mental health care by way of prevention, assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation options across the lifespan. Collaborating with consumers, family/carers, government, and non-government services ensures that healthcare outcomes and experiences are met.

Position overview

The Consumer Peer Worker (ASO Level 4) provides non-clinical, recovery-oriented support to individuals accessing MHJHADS services by intentionally sharing their own lived experience of mental health challenges, service use and recovery, as well as their acquired lived experience expertise.

The role is grounded in peer support principles, fostering hope, mutuality, self-determination and choice through purposefully sharing relevant experiences. Peer Workers contribute to MHJHADS’ strategic goals by enhancing service engagement, promoting recovery-focused practices, and supporting the development of inclusive, person-centred mental health services. This position plays a key role in reducing stigma and strengthening the voice of lived experience within the mental health system. More specifically the role provides direct support to consumers including:

• Peer support for consumers in inpatient mental health services to build reciprocal, non-hierarchical relationships that support connection, hope and mutuality.
• Supporting consumers to explore meaning, identity, power and choice.
• Assisting consumers to better navigate the mental health system post discharge for up to 8 weeks.

Key Responsibilities

Under general direction within clear guidelines, the role is to deliver peer support that centres voice, choice, personal agency and self-determination; strengthens engagement with community and services; elevates consumer perspectives in discharge and care planning; and contributes to recovery outcomes and service development in MHJHADS.

1. Service delivery in line with the relevant model of service:
   • Provide direct peer support with individuals accessing MHJHADS services:
     • Intentionally and appropriately sharing lived experience with consumers to build rapport, foster hope, support community connections and normalise mental illness, recovery and help-seeking.
     • Assisting service participants to be aware of relevant information including service orientation, rights and responsibilities and available support options.
     • Support service participants to navigate mental health services and access relevant supports, resources, and opportunities for social inclusion.
   • Ensuring practice is trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and respectful of diverse worldviews, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people of diverse genders and sexualities, people with neurodiversity, people with disability and other marginalised groups.
   • Use recovery-oriented frameworks and tools to support reflective conversations, about recovery, identity, strengths and self-defined priorities/goals while incorporating personal meaning, cultural context and social determinants.
   • Collaborate with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to enable optimal outcomes for service participants.
   • Facilitate/co-facilitate groups.
   • Appropriately document participant interactions in the Digital Health Record (DHR) to ensure continuity of care, accountability and effective communication with other professionals.
   • Uphold consumer confidentiality and privacy in line with legislative and organisational policy requirements.
   • Uphold ethical standards and boundaries consistent with peer work principles and MHJHADS and CHS policies and procedures.
2. Service development:
   • Contribute to the development of a recovery-oriented and trauma-informed service culture within MHJHADS.
   • Actively participate in team meetings, supervision, reflective practice and ongoing learning to support professional development and wellbeing, strengthen peer work practice and contribute to service improvement initiatives.
3. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Competencies

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following:

• Peer Work practice – effectively use personal lived experience of mental health challenges and recovery to build trust and rapport with consumers. Share relevant recovery stories appropriately to inspire hope and model recovery-oriented behaviours, while maintaining appropriate boundaries. Provide one-on-one and group-based peer support that promotes wellbeing, self-determination, dignity, choice and recovery.
• Self-awareness – engages in reflective practice, ongoing learning and development and peer supervision for the purposes of strengthening professional peer and ethical practice and promoting self-care, wellbeing and resilience.
• Values-based Communication – Uses language and communication that is hopeful, non-pathologising, strengths-focused and grounded in peer values.
• Advocacy and empowerment – support service participants to advocate for their needs and preferences within the mental health system to assist them to navigate services, understand their rights, explore and minimise power imbalances, and make informed choices.
• Cultural safety and inclusion – demonstrates respect for diverse identities and promotes inclusive peer support. Upholds the ACT Government’s Respect, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Framework.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Personal life changing experience of mental ill-health, service use and recovery.
• Prior experience in a role/s where drawing from lived experience is fundamental (e.g. peer work, facilitating peer groups, peer education, stigma-reduction activities)
• Willingness to undertake formal training or qualifications in Peer Work or equivalent (e.g. Intentional Peer Support, Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work).
• Computer literacy at a level that enables use of an electronic health record system (Digital Health Record, DHR).
• Current driver’s license.

Desirable

• Completion or currently undertaking formal training or qualifications in Peer Work or equivalent (e.g. Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work, Intentional Peer Support).

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.
• Current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 is required.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Demonstrated peer work practice of intentionally sharing one’s own mental health recovery journey and service navigation to support consumers, and model hope and recovery.
2. Demonstrated knowledge and capability to uphold peer principles while maintaining boundaries.
3. Demonstrated experience effectively communicating and collaborating with other health professionals to benefit consumers.
4. Demonstrated commitment to continuing professional peer work development, proactive self-care practices and contributing to a positive team culture.
5. Demonstrated understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety, CHS values and the positive consumer experience.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.