A peer support worker is someone who uses their own lived experience of mental health challenges, or their experience of supporting someone through them, to help other people on their recovery journey. They aren't there to diagnose or treat anyone. They're there because they understand, from the inside, what it's like to go through it.

In Australia, peer work is now a recognised part of the mental health workforce, with national guidelines and its own nationally recognised qualification.

In this article, we'll look at who a peer support worker is, what they do, the skills the role needs, and how the certificate works.

Who is a peer support worker?

Peer support work is built on shared experience or sharing lived experience. The National Mental Health Commission describes the lived experience (peer) workforce as people who are employed to use their own experience of mental health issues, or of supporting someone through them, to understand and relate to others.

The aim is to improve how people experience services and to support their recovery and wellbeing. You can read more in the Commission's national guidelines for the peer workforce.

There are two main types of peer workers:

• Consumer peer workers have their own lived experience of mental health challenges and of using mental health services.
• Carer peer workers draw on their experience of supporting a family member or friend through mental health challenges.

The same kind of work goes by a few different job titles, including peer support worker, peer specialist, peer navigator, peer recovery coach and peer advocate.

The relationship also works differently from a typical clinical one. The national guidelines describe peer work as based on equality and give-and-take, where both people contribute from their own experience.

One peer worker shared that supporting others through depression, which she had lived with herself, made her better at spotting symptoms and communicating with people. She enjoyed the work, but it also stirred up old feelings she thought were settled. Writing down her triggers and how to manage them helped her stay well. 

What does a peer support worker do?

The day-to-day work depends on the service, but it usually includes:

• Listening and offering support without judgement
• Sharing parts of their own recovery story when it helps the other person, in a safe and purposeful way
• Helping people find and move through mental health and community services
• Supporting people to work towards their own recovery goals
• Running or helping with support groups
• Passing on what they learn from people using the service, so the service can improve

Peer workers are employed in government, public, private and community-managed mental health services. Many roles sit within community organisations, where the worker is part of a team alongside clinicians and other support staff.

What peer support is, and what it isn't

Peer support sits alongside clinical care rather than replacing it. The national guidelines describe the workforce as supporting people from a human rights and social justice perspective, rather than a medical one. A peer support worker isn't a counsellor, psychologist or doctor, and doesn't diagnose or prescribe.

It also isn't a friendship or a rescue role. Clear professional boundaries are part of the job, and that's why working legally and ethically is one of the core units in the certificate.

The national guidelines also recommend regular supervision for peer workers, including supervision that draws on lived experience, so that the work stays safe for the worker as well as the person being supported.

Skills a peer support worker needs

Lived experience is the starting point, but it isn't enough on its own. The role also relies on skills that can be learned:

• Active listening and empathy. Hearing what the person is saying, without steering the conversation back to the worker's own story.
• Safe storytelling. Knowing what to share, when to share it, and when to hold back.
• Boundaries and ethics. Understanding where the role starts and stops.
• A recovery-focused approach. Supporting people to set and work towards their own goals, instead of deciding for them.
• Trauma-informed practice. Understanding how trauma can shape the way a person engages with support.
• Respect for diversity. Working with people from many different backgrounds and cultures.
• Working with others. Taking part respectfully in a team that includes clinicians and other professionals.
• Looking after their own wellbeing. Drawing on personal experience can be rewarding, and it can also be draining.

The certificate: Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work

The nationally recognised qualification for this work is the CHC43515 Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work. According to training.gov.au, it reflects the role of workers who have lived experience of mental illness as either a consumer or a carer, and who work in services in roles that support consumer peers or carer peers. It has two specialisations: Consumer Peer Work and Carer Peer Work.

Across providers, the units typically cover:

• Applying peer work practices in the mental health sector
• Applying lived experience in mental health peer work
• Contributing to the continuous improvement of mental health services
• Providing recovery-oriented mental health services
• Working effectively in trauma-informed care
• Providing services to people with co-existing mental health and alcohol and other drug issues
• Working legally and ethically
• Working with diverse people
• Participating in workplace health and safety

Entry requirements

Requirements differ between providers, but they commonly include:

• Lived experience as a consumer or carer. Providers usually ask students to confirm this, and some, like RMIT, note that specific details aren't required.
• A language, literacy and numeracy assessment, and in some cases a minimum age of 18
• A National Police Check, vaccination and health screening records, and for some placements an NDIS Worker Screening Check
• Any extra checks the placement host asks for

Many providers deliver the course over around 12 months, though this varies. Some courses are designed specifically for people who are already working in peer roles.

Certificate IV in Mental Health vs Peer Work

These are two different qualifications. The general CHC43315 Certificate IV in Mental Health is aimed at people working in mental health support roles and doesn't require lived experience. The Peer Work certificate is built around lived experience and how to use it in a professional role.

Work placement in the peer work certificate

The course includes work placement, and the hours depend on the provider. Many require at least 80 hours, while some ask for more. For example, one provider asks for 120 hours and another for 160. The placement is generally completed in a paid or voluntary peer work role in a mental health service.

Several providers expect students to arrange the placement themselves, and some advise lining it up before enrolling, since suitable placements can take time to find. A placement support provider such as SkilTrak can help students and RTOs match with suitable host organisations and keep placement progress and evidence in one place.

How to become a peer support worker

The usual path looks like this:

1. Decide whether the role feels right. That includes thinking about what a person is comfortable sharing and how they'll look after their own wellbeing.
2. Choose a provider and check the entry requirements, including the screening checks.
3. Line up a placement. This is easier when it's started early.
4. Complete the Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work.
5. Apply for roles with community-managed organisations, public services and private services. Volunteering can also be a good way to build experience first.

Peer workers aren't registered or licensed in the way nurses or psychologists are, so employers set their own requirements. Some ask for Certificate IV, so it's worth reading position descriptions closely.

Final thoughts

Peer support work turns personal experience into something that helps others, and the certificate gives that experience a professional foundation: the skills, the boundaries and the ethics that keep the work safe. 

For people who have been through mental health challenges themselves, or have supported someone who has, it can be a meaningful way into the sector.

If you want to become a peer support worker or complete your placement with us, contact us now.