• Max term, part time

Almost half of Australian adults will experience a mental health illness at some point in their life. You can make a meaningful difference to the Australian community by joining the Life Without Barriers team. Our mental health teams provide client-led, recovery-orientated mental health support, creating positive change in such a vital industry.

Life Without Barriers is a leading social purpose organisation of 8,000 employees working in more than 500 communities across Australia. We support children, young people and families, people with disability, older people, and people with mental illness. We work with people who are homeless and refugees and asylum seekers. Join a community of people dedicated to breaking down barriers.  

We want to employ people who reflect the diversity of our clients to ensure we can support each client's individual needs and wants. We encourage people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background and people with disability to apply.

About the Roles

We are looking for a Peer Support Worker to join our HASP (Housing Accommodation Support Partnership) teams.  

The Peer Support Worker (HASP) will deliver 1:1 support assisting people with their recovery journey through our contract with SA Health. This work is delivered in northern and central Adelaide areas (including west and east) and is a part time (0.8 FTE) maximum term position to 30 September 2023.

In this role you will draw on your lived experience with mental illness and have a level of recovery that enables you to use this experience for the purpose of sharing knowledge, commonality and experiences. The successful candidate will deliver services within the framework of recovery.

Key Responsibilities

• Engage and develop rapport with consumers who are experiencing mental illness and other complex needs to understand their needs and to help them identify problems and areas for improvement and implement effective solutions.
• Encourage and support consumers to achieve their goals, sharing openly your own story when appropriate to do so, to engender hope and demonstrate a positive role model.
• Liaise with CRSWs to support consumers to develop their own support plans in partnership with Life Without Barriers CRSW’s, Community Mental Health services and carers.
• Encourage individuals participation in decisions regarding their use of services and enhancing their capacity to understand and manage their health and welfare needs
• Monitor and review consumers’ progress through the service and against the case plan and link consumers into mainstream and/or specialist services where required.
• Observe and accurately record the consumer’s behaviour, needs and interactions with others in case notes.
• Provide a lived experience knowledge base for staff to liaise with and work with members of the team to participate in the planning of the Life Without Barriers induction of new staff from interview to orientation.
• Support Life Without Barriers to reduce the stigma associated with Mental Illness through involvement and/or support of a community education program. This may also involve marketing for community education events and building networks with other groups.

Skills & Experience

• Minimum Cert IV in Mental Health
• Have a lived experience of mental illness and a level of recovery that enable you to have the confidence and resilience to share personal lived experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience of working with the issues faced by people with mental health issues
• Demonstrated ability to positively engage, interact and work with people who have complex needs including a Psychiatric disability.
• Demonstrated ability to work with people from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds with specific reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Well-developed verbal and written communication skills
• Have a comprehensive understanding of the Recovery Framework and the underlying principles
• Current Drivers Licence and reliable vehicle.

Successful candidates will be required to clear all state-based probity checks; including but not limited to a National Criminal History Record Check and NDIS Worker Screening Check.

To be considered for a position at Life Without Barriers, you must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a minimum of two (2) doses or hold a valid medical exemption certificate, in accordance with Life Without Barriers Employee COVID-19 Vaccination Policy. You will be required to provide evidence of your vaccination status during the recruitment process.

How to Apply

Include your resume and covering letter in one document, click ‘Apply’ and follow the prompts. For any enquiries including persons with disability that require adjustments, contact [email protected]. using the subject line: Community Peer Worker - Adelaide enquiry via EthicalJobs.

We are dedicated to playing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and bring continuity of care and support to our clients. With this in mind, if you are successful, we will discuss with you an alternative to a face to face interview. 

Life Without Barriers supports the Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with disability. We believe people with disability need to be heard and for these experiences to influence how support services like ours are delivered. View our statement here (https://bit.ly/2GzZGWA).