Lived and Living Experience Workforces Discipline Frameworks information session
Join us on Wednesday 30 April for an information session about the 5 LLEW discipline and how they can be used in your daily work.
Nobody knows the mental health and wellbeing system better than the people who have experienced it firsthand. Victoria has a small but growing number of lived and living experience workers in the mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, and harm reduction sectors.
Lived and living experience workers (LLEWs) may provide support directly to consumers, families, carers and supporters, or indirectly through leadership, consultation, system advocacy, training or research.
LLEWs can drive system change. They can shift the culture of service delivery to be more person-centred and recovery oriented.
Growing and supporting the lived and living experience workforces
The Royal Commission recommended that people with lived and living experience should play a central role in designing and delivering the new system. Interim Recommendation 6 called for more LLEWs across all levels of the mental health and wellbeing system.
If you have questions about LLEW initiatives in Victorian state-funded mental health, alcohol and other drug and harm reduction services, please email livedexperienceworkforce@health.vic.gov.au.
For more information on our engagement with LLEWs, see Engaging with lived and living experience workforces.
Development opportunities
More than $51 million has been invested since 2020 to build the supports, structures and career pathways needed for the development of lived and living experience workforce. Training and development opportunities for LLEW can be found below.
Qualifications and career pathways
- Lived Experience Peer Cadet Program - The program offers people with lived and living experience part-time employment with a participating community mental health organisation
- Lived and Living Experience Workforce University Scholarship Program - Scholarships for eligible individuals who are enrolled or intending to enrol in an eligible undergraduate and postgraduate course.
Training
The department funds training for current LLE workers, delivered by established LLE training providers. Lived and living experience workers in state-funded mental health, AOD and harm reduction services can access this training for free.
Training offerings include:
- Intentional Peer
- Single Session Framework for the Carer Lived Experience
- The Hearing Voices
- Mind's Peer Work
- Alternatives to
- Emotional
Employers of LLEWs allocate places. For more information, please email livedexperienceworkforce@health.vic.gov.au.
The Centre for Mental Health also promotes training opportunities for LLEW's. Registration is now open to staff employed at:
- Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Lived experience workforces working in either public clinical or community mental health state-funded roles.
Supervision
Access to Supervision project
The Access to Supervision project aims to increase access to discipline-specific supervision, as part of the Royal Commission's recommendation to expand the capacity of Victoria’s lived and living experience workforces.
Discipline-specific supervision is available for consumer and family/carer workers from mental health services. It provides a formal structure for workers to reflect upon their practice and strengthen connection to lived experience values and principles. This is separate from line management or clinical supervision. Workers can be matched with a suitable discipline-specific supervisor from outside their employing organisation.
Find out how to apply to receive supervision or provide supervision, see the Consumer and Family/Carer Perspective Supervision , hosted by the Centre for Mental Health Learning.
Consumer and Family/Carer Perspective Supervision training
This training available for those who want to provide discipline-specific supervision to the consumer or family/carer lived experience workforces employed in mental health settings. Tandem/Carer Lived Experience Workforce network (CLEW) is currently taking Expressions of Interest for the next round of .
Mental health consumer lived experience workers
Inside Out and Associates delivers training for consumer perspective supervisors. For more information or to express your interest in upcoming courses, see the Inside Out .
Mental health family/carer lived experience workers
Training for family/carer perspective supervisors is delivered by the Tandem/Carer Lived Experience Workforce network partnership. For more information email info@tandemcarers.org.au.
Non-LLEW managers
Developed by the Centre for Mental Health Learning, this e-learning module provides an introduction to consumer and family/carer perspective supervision for non-LLEW managers, coordinators, and team leaders who manage and support the lived experience workforces. The course may also be helpful to those who are new to the workforce or who work alongside LLEWs.
To register for the training, see the Centre for Mental Health Learning .
Practice supports
LLEW discipline frameworks
Discipline frameworks articulate the knowledge, skills and scope of practice for each LLEW discipline. They can guide LLEW training and development and allow LLE workers and their managers to gain greater clarity on their roles.
Additionally, the discipline frameworks will assist non-LLEW staff within mental health and AOD organisations to better understand, support and work alongside the LLEW. This is anticipated to better embed LLEW within workplaces and ensure they are valued for their unique role within multidisciplinary teams.
Five frameworks have been developed for the following LLEW disciplines in Victoria:
- The Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Lived Experience Workforce, see SHARC .
- The Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Family Lived and Living Experience Workforce, see SHARC .
- The Harm Reduction Lived & Living Experience Peer , on the Harm Reduction Victoria website.
- The Mental Health Consumer Lived Experience , on the Melbourne School of Health Sciences website.
- The Mental Health Family Carer Lived and Living Experience , on the Tandem website.
Communities of practice for consumer and carer consultants in mental health services
To support consumer and carer consultants working in Victorian public specialist mental health services, the department funds statewide coordinator positions at Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council and to support communities of practice. These meetings bring consumer and carer consultants together for practice development, co-reflection, and ensuring connection with the department.
Practice supports for AOD and harm reduction peer workers
The department will continue to provide funding for positions at Harm Reduction Victoria and Self Help Addiction Resource Centre that provide comprehensive practice supports (such as supervision and access to communities of practice) for harm reduction and AOD peer workers.
Workplace safety and wellbeing
The Mental Health Workforce Wellbeing Committee has been established to identify, monitor and address health, safety and wellbeing needs of staff in the mental health and wellbeing workforce.
The Centre for Mental Health is currently exploring options for a sustainable model for a lived experience-led Employee Assistance Program.
Big Feels At Work
Big Feels At is a podcast and audio resource for workers with lived experience, produced by The Big Feels , an online peer support community. The podcast was designed especially for those in non-designated lived and living experience roles, including clinicians, who face the unique demands of working in mental health or addictions while facing their own challenges.
Leadership development
Leadership and workforce development strategies
A Lived and Living Experience Leadership Strategy is currently in development in partnership with lived and living experience experts from across the sector.
The department has also partnered with LLEW experts to co-produce separate strategies for:
Consumers Leading in Governance (CLIG) program
delivers the CLIG training program, which aims to develop consumers for future roles in governance across the mental health sector, as recommended by the Royal Commission's final report. It is the first governance training program for consumers in Australia
Organisational readiness
Organisational readiness is critical to create safe and sustainable employment conditions for the lived and living experience workforces.
SHARC is offering two workforce development initiatives, as part of their Lived and Living Experience At Heart program.
- The Learning Collaborative (TLC) helps mental health and AOD services integrate LLEWs by building networks between organisations employing LLEWs to facilitate mentoring, co-learning and mutual support and supporting organisations with policies, processes and cultural change.
- The Supporting Organisational Lived Experience (SOLE) project enables mental health services to receive guided assessments, tailored supports and one-off grants to embed LLEWs.
For more information, see Lived and Living Experience at on the sharc website.
Reporting on Lived Experience Workforce
Evidence, evaluation and expert advice is needed to ensure LLEWs are supported, valued and sustained. The department funds both the Consumer Academic Program at the Centre for Mental Health Nursing and a carer academic position at The Bouverie .
We also reported on the lived experience workforce in recent years:
Reviewed 15 April 2025