• Organisation: LELAN | SA Lived Experience Leadership & Advocacy Network
• Employment status: Contract, 0.8FTE (SCHADS Award, Level 5)
• Location: Adelaide, South Australia
• Reports to: LELAN Executive Director
• Contract period: February 2022 – July 2023

About the Role:

The Peer Project Worker (Alt2Sui) will coordinate LELAN’s work to embed ‘Alternatives to Suicide’[1] peer groups across South Australia. The Peer Project Worker (Alt2Sui) will play a lead role supporting the establishment and ongoing running of Alternatives to Suicide groups as well as liaising with the lived experience community, organisations and partners to build capacity and opportunity for lived experience-led initiatives to grow throughout SA.

LELAN offers a dynamic workplace and collaborative team culture, it can be fast paced with quick turnaround times. Being proactive, adaptable, creative and having a commitment to working together are the keys to success.

As a lived experience-led organisation, LELAN team members have their own lived or living experience of mental distress, social issues or injustice. Determining whether you meet this ‘criteria’ can be tricky, we do not require people to explain their personal history during the application or interview process. As a guide, it is described in our industry that ‘people with lived experience’ have had experiences that significantly affected their life, changing the way they viewed themselves and their place in the world. Given that LELAN actively advocates for systems level change in the mental health and social sectors experience of accessing public mental health and other services and/or programs for your lived experience is preferred.

About the SA Lived Experience Leadership & Advocacy Network (LELAN):

LELAN’s purpose is to amplify the voice, influence and leadership of people with personal lived and living experience of distress, social issues or injustice to drive systemic change. The organisation has three areas of focus:

• Developing the capability and influence of people with lived and living experience
• Nurturing organisational and sector capacity for partnering with people with lived and living experience
• Impacting system improvement agendas to benefit people with lived and living experience

Mobilising the power of lived experience throughout South Australia is LELAN’s vision. This underpins the work that we do and the way that we do it, embodying the knowing we have that lived experience matters. Our values are courage, compassion, dignity, intersectionality, leadership and social justice.

Core to all work that LELAN completes is a commitment to meaningful involvement of people with lived experience and our allies, ensuring collective experiences are heard, elevated and provided space to gather and build strength together.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Developing and being accountable for the project plan and key deliverables
• Promoting the value, relevance and need for Alternatives to Suicide
• Supporting the establishment and convening of a Project Governance Group
• Co-designing what groups look like in SA with the lived experience community
• Co-designing and co-delivering workshops related to the project, including Alt2Sui Facilitator Training once trained to do so
• Providing debriefing and support for Alt2Sui group facilitators through regular practice supervision and Reflective Circles
• Working with partner organisations and the mental health and social services sectors to embed Alt2Sui groups and other lived experience-led initiatives
• Supporting robust evaluation of the project and the involvement of people with lived experience throughout all stages
• Creating opportunities for lived experience-led action and inform LELAN’s systemic advocacy

Skill and experience requirements:

• Personal lived or living experience of suicide distress, thoughts or experiences
• Demonstrated experience of and commitment to centring the involvement and leadership of people with lived experience, particularly consumers, in projects
• Project work experience inclusive of planning, design, delivery and evaluation
• Experience designing and facilitating workshops and co-design processes, particularly where this is by, for and with people with lived experience of mental distress, social issues or injustice
• Strong planning, organisational and problem-solving skills, with a great attention to detail and ability to deliver quality work within tight deadlines
• Ability to work independently whilst being part of a team that is highly collaborative
• Ability to develop supportive, encouraging and engaging relationships with diverse groups
• Qualification and experience in peer work, mental health, community development or related field
• Computer literacy and ability to use Microsoft Office programs
• Commitment to the purpose and values of LELAN

We are committed to inclusion and accessibility for people with lived and living experience and welcome applications from people with: broad distress or mental health experiences (including psychosocial disability); diverse cultural backgrounds (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people); gender or sexually diverse identities (including trans and non-binary); and/or other disabilities.

Submitting your application:

Click Apply Now to submit your application.

Further enquiries can be made by contacting Sheryl Boniface, Manager: Projects & Advocacy, via [email protected] using the subject line: Peer Project Worker - Alt2Sui enquiry via EthicalJobs or 0459 946 515. Additional information about LELAN can be accessed at www.lelan.org.au.

Interviews for the position will be held Friday February 4th, 2022.

[1] Alternatives to Suicide was developed by the Wildflower Alliance (formerly the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community) in the US. Alternatives to Suicide peer-led community-based groups centre mutual connection and meaning making around suicide distress, thoughts and experiences. They offer non-clinical spaces where people can be honest about their experiences without fear of forced treatment, other forms of coercion, or risk assessment that shuts conversation down.