The Carer Lived Experience Workforce (CLEW) network undertakes projects in partnership with other agencies to grow and support the CLEW.

 

Current project

 

Lived & Living Experience Workforce (LLEW) Development Program

 

Finishing date: 30 May 2024.

This project aims to realise authorised, supported and sustainable LLEWs in public mental health and AOD services by investing in existing or developing new workforce development projects.

Background

The LLEWs development program 2022‐24 involves supporting existing or developing new projects to realise authorised, supported and sustainable LLEWs in public mental health and AOD services. The program is informed/seeks to build on the many decades of activism and advocacy by the mental health consumer workforce, AOD consumer workforce, mental health family/carer workforce, and AOD family/carer workforce, people with lived and living experience of trauma, mental health challenges, suicide, substance use or addiction, and their families, carers, and supporters, advocates, and allies. The program also recognises the different needs and perspectives within individual LLEW disciplines as well as between them. The implication of this is that while some agendas are shared/common among LLEWs, this diversity needs to be acknowledged and supported through the program.

It is an expectation of the program that co‐design opportunities will be sought wherever possible.

The follow Lived and Living Experience (LLE) led agencies/organisations engaged with LLEWs will be involved in leading individual projects:

Program principles

The LLEW Development Program will be guided by the following principles:

  • Builds on existing work
  • Promotes sustainability
  • Is led by agencies with expertise, capability, capacity and sector reach
  • Ensures lived and living experience leadership
  • Respects integrity and identity of each discipline
  • Offers choice and flexibility

The LLEW Development Program embeds the following ways of working:

  • Co‐production and Co‐design
  • Collaboration and sharing across partners
  • Share knowledge and engage across settings and sectors
  • Strengthen partnership with govt, services and lead agencies
  • Design initiatives to ensure accountability
  • Transparency around decision making and communication

Recent project

 

The Lived & Living Experience Workforce (LLEW) Introductory Training Project - Our Future Report, October 2021

The project partnership, with the Self Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC) as the lead agency, was commissioned by Mental Health Reform Victoria (MHRV) to conduct research and consultation to inform the development of recommendations for an introductory training package(s) for the Lived and Living Experience Workforces (LLEWs) in the Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) sectors in Victoria.

This project was commissioned in response to Recommendation 62 of the interim report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System which identified an “inconsistent approach to training and learning and development in lived experience workforces.” In response, the Royal Commission recommended that “all lived experience workers should have access to a minimum, standardised level of lived experience training” and that for all lived experience roles, “training in lived experience work should build on best practice models and be tailored to the Victorian context” (op cit).

This project is the first step in developing and delivering on this crucial recommendation for the rapidly growing LLE workforces. LLEled introductory training will ensure that the full spectrum of lived and living experience workforces have access to relevant, best practice training to support them in their vital roles in the mental health and wellbeing, and alcohol and other drug systems.

The Partnership

This project was delivered by the Our Future partnership - four Victorian lived experience-led organisations and two organisations engaged with LLE workforces - totalling over 100 years of experience in the Mental Health and AOD Lived and Living Experience Workforces.

These organisations have been formative in the history and trajectory of the LLE workforces, training and providing support to hundreds of lived and living experience workers in Victoria. This project was led by SHARC, and is a partnership between:

  • Athena Consumer Workforce Consulting (Athena)
  • Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL)
  • Centre for Mental Health Nursing (CMHN), University of Melbourne
  • Carer Lived Experience Workforce (CLEW)
  • Self Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC)
  • The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University

 

This project was also supported by the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), Tandem and the Satellite Foundation. From the outset, the partnership’s vision for workforce training is for a comprehensive and customised approach. This means, working towards a future system in which all LLE workforces receive relevant, tailored training within a system that supports their growth and development.