Address LGBTIQAP+ Peer Support Worker
headspace Southport and Upper Coomera
Support to young people to reach their recovery and wellbeing goals
Play a pivotal role within our headspace service
Part-time (3 days)
Meals and Entertainment benefits
Utilise your lived experience to support other young people on their mental health recovery journey.
Every year headspace centres help thousands of young Australians to access support and services for their mental and physical health. With a focus on early intervention, headspace services keep young people at the heart of everything they do.
We are looking for a Youth Peer Support Worker to join our headspace team to support young people aged 12 – 25 years, who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
In the context of an LGBTIQAP+ identified role, you will also provide support to young people who also identify as part of the LGBTIQAP+ community or are exploring experiences and preferences around identity, gender and sexuality.
There are two positions available, one for our centre in Upper Coomera and one for Southport. Each role is part time, 3 days per week and may require some travel between the two centres.
This is not a clinical role and doesn’t require you to hold a qualification, but you must have a lived experience of mental health challenges and seeking support/treatment, and identify as being a part of the LGBTIQAP+ community.
The salary for this position is $36 - $38.60 per hour plus super and we offer lots of benefits including five extra days paid leave (pro-rata), an Employee Assistance Program for self-care, and discounted access to gyms, pools, and leisure facilities across the country. Our intranet, Wellspring, offers a huge range of discounted products and services – from supermarkets to electronics to fashion!
What we are looking for:
Although this is not an entry level role, it would ideally suit someone in the early stages of their career – someone with a passion for utilising their own lived experience of significant mental health challenges, to help others through their own recovery and wellbeing journey.
Along with the ability to mentor and guide, you will have the following skills and experience:
If you have been a Youth Peer Support Worker previously, great! If not, you will be excited about learning how to facilitate groups and provide individual support in a safe, inclusive way
Collaborative, open approach – this is a newly developed team and you will have the opportunity to contribute to developing the culture and environment
Strong communication and engagement skills - you will be having individual and group discussions with a range of young people. Being an active listener is also important
Appropriate sharing of your own lived experience, working within professional boundaries and positive role-modelling
Understanding of your own triggers, self-care, and self-reflection, and being open when you require support
Experience working with local LGBTIQAP+ communities and ability to maintain strong relationships
Experience in facilitating or co-facilitating a support or social group
You’re super organised – you know how to plan and manage your time and workload, and can juggle several things at once
You can easily talk to your peers but also switch gears to talk and advocate within a team of clinical professionals
Good computer skills, use of Microsoft Suite and Client Management Systems
A Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work would be highly regarded, but we can also provide internal training opportunities within the headspace Peer Support Work model. You will need to have an Australian Drivers Licence and a Working With Children Blue Card.
Under s25 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, there is a genuine occupational requirement for the incumbent to have a personal lived experience of substance dependence and or Mental ill-health, service use and recovery.
About our team
The Peer Support Program is led by a people-focused Coordinator who is personable, flexible, and passionate about what she does. Our ideal candidate will have a great sense of humour, be a team player, and be willing to offer ideas and suggestions. We are open to change, and love to challenge the status quo. Young people are always at the centre of everything we do.
And the team has fun! You’ll get to support young people individually, and as part of groups including cooking classes, bushwalking, and surfing.
headspace provides comprehensive support services to young people aged 12 – 25 years, who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
With a strong focus on person-centred care, youth specific interventions, functional recovery, and family collaboration; our services are delivered by a multidisciplinary team of allied health and medical practitioners working alongside lived experience peer workers. Support extends across physical health, work and study, and substance misuse, offering integrated support to young people when and where they need it.
As a Peer Support Worker you will work within a lived experience framework to provide individual support and group activities for young people who are accessing headspace services. In the context of an LGBTIQAP+ identified role, you will provide support to young people who also identify as part of the LGBTIQAP+ community or are exploring experiences and preferences around identity, gender and sexuality. Additionally, you will support and facilitate relationship building and connection between the service and the LGBTIQAP+ community, other services and key stakeholders.
The LGBTIQAP+ Peer Support Worker (Identified) role is designed to walk alongside young people as they engage and receive support from headspace. You will provide;
person-centered Peer Support through understanding and shared similar experiences
advocacy and education for young people to engage with treatment and services
validation and normalisation of experiences
relatability, hope, and optimism throughout the support journey
support navigating headspace services and destigmatise mental ill-health
decrease isolation, build connection and confidence to overcome challenges
support to build their identity as a valued individual, despite challenges and limitation
Duties and Responsibilities
Peer Support
Initiate and participate in supportive conversations with young people
Appropriately and purposefully share parts of your own lived experience of mental ill health, treatment and recovery
Support and encourage young people to actively engage in treatment and services
Develop, source and share strategies, resources and information that could be helpful to a young person’s recovery and wellbeing
Identify opportunities to apply lived experience principles to support a young person’s treatment and recovery
Support young people (advocating as required) to feel safe and have their needs and preferences heard
Collaborate and partner with multidisciplinary teams to develop and deliver:
Tailored, individual support around identified topics and shared experiences
Co-facilitated therapeutic and social groups
Facilitate peer-led groups for young people
Other Peer Support Program projects and advocacy pieces.
Share your perspectives and ideas to drive service improvement and development
Support young people to be aware of their rights and responsibilities, and how to access feedback mechanisms to provide complaints, compliments and suggestions to the service
Represent young people and the Peer Support Program in wider consultations, community engagements, committees, and meetings
Initiate and drive connection, relationships and partnerships with local LGBTIQAP+ communities, services and stakeholders for the purpose of supporting warm referral pathways and facilitate consultation and collaboration where appropriate
Key Selection Criteria
Essential:
Equal Opportunity Act Identified statement here
Lived experience of mental health challenges, treatment and recovery
Experience in Youth Peer Support or other similar lived experience opportunities in paid, volunteering, mentoring or transferable skilled roles.
Willingness and ability to share your lived experience in a safe, purposeful way including clearly describing strategies and factors that have supported your recovery and wellbeing.
The ability to considerately and non-judgmentally with young people from diverse backgrounds and/or experiencing complex challenges.
Experience working with local LGBTIQAP+ communities
Understanding of relevant public health, human right frameworks, advocacy networks and social health issues for LGBTIQAP+ young people
Confidence to advocate within clinical teams and settings for the needs and perspectives of young people.
Self-directed and able to work autonomously, while also contributing to team direction and planning as well as maintaining appropriate boundaries with young people that you are supporting.
High level written and verbal communication skills , provided in a timely manner.
Intermediate computer skills including programs such as Microsoft Office, and capacity to learn data recording service systems.
Desirable:
Knowledge of and confidence to work within a Lived Experience framework (such as the Queensland Lived Experience Workforce Framework), providing individualised and goal-oriented support to young people. Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work (Youth Consumer) or nearing completion Demonstrated experience facilitating or co-facilitating recovery or support groups for young people
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