There are sometimes differences in ‘Worldview’ when it comes to interpreting the terms above, especially in the context of the Certificate 4 in Mental Health Peer Work’.
In the context of The Cert IV in Peer Work, the term ‘Peer work’ was the one, at the time, and still currently outside Victoria, that was used to describe all what we have only relatively recently called ‘Lived Experience Work’ and the Cert 4 was intended for all lived experience folk including Consumer Consultants.
I know this because I was one of the people a decade ago who organised consultations for the writers of the Cert IV, and we collected the input of both Peer Support Workers and of Consumer Consultants and both specialities were considered when the syllabus was written.
But what one person asserts is not always persuasive so here we go!
(Click for more context)
“Peer Work
The term peer work, is a collective term for a broad range of roles, where lived experience is an essential requirement.
The term is often confused with … peer support work,
The Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL).
And
“Peer worker roles
Apart from peer support work, peer worker roles can include:
…
A specific qualification – Certificate IV in Mental Health (Peer Work) – has been established to cement the professional role of the peer worker in the mental health and human services system. Peer worker roles are being developed, offered and filled across service providers.
National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF)
And
“The peer workforce roles include but are not limited to:
…
• Peer consultants work in partnership with mental health service providers to give consumer or
carer perspectives at all levels of planning, implementation and evaluation, and provide feedback.
Lived Experience Australia
And one that should speak for itself; the National Mental Health Commission used itself in its workforce development Guidelines gives the two terms equivalency:
National Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Development Guidelines
All worldviews have internal validity, but IPS tells us that when we receive a communication from another we need to consider what they mean by specific terms before we can really understand an really communicate.
The bodies with the Worldview ‘Peer Workforce means LLEW’ include the National Mental Health Commission, ’the central agency for public mental health workforce development in Victoria ‘ and ‘A Combined National Voice for Mental Health Consumers and Carers’.
There are MANY more, but after 4 hours in the evening this is as much as the LLEW gets of my research skills currently 😊
CONCLUSION
I submit it would be helpful local practice, to liaise with bodies nationally, if we, statewide adopted the language they use, and the widely held belief that ‘Peer Work’ means LLEw and NOT Peer Support Work
I further submit, that my own testimony and the quotes above – and the specific statement by the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum to that effect make it reasonable to conclude that 10 years ago, long before LLEW was a thing, the drafters of the Cert 4 in question used the term ‘Peer Work’ as EVERYONE did back then, to mean the entire body of workers with lived personal experience of having or supporting someone with a mental illness.
Thus the Cert 4 in Mental Health Peer support was intended for and is appropriate for all the LLEw as a foundation course.
Context for the quotes above
From the Centre for Mental Health Learning
‘The Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL) is the central agency for public mental health workforce development in Victoria.’
“Peer work is a collective term for a broad range of roles where either consumer or carer lived experience is an essential requirement.
In Victoria, this is often referred to as lived experience work… “
https://cmhl.org.au/about-peer-work
“Peer Work
The term peer work, is a collective term for a broad range of roles, where lived experience is an essential requirement.
The term is often confused with … peer support work, therefore we have chosen to use the terms ‘lived experience work’ and ‘lived experience workforce’ to clearly express where we are referring to the broad range of lived experience (or peer) roles, not only peer support work.”
https://cmhl.org.au/sites/default/files/CMHL-Intro-to-LEW-roles-v3-20190227.pdf
From ‘Towards Professionalisation Final Report A Project to undertake a feasibility study into the establishment of a member based organisation for the peer workforce in Australia’
Peer work, peer workers and peer workforce include all workers in mainstream or alternative mental health services or initiatives who are employed to openly identify and use their lived experience of mental distress or as a carer supporting someone with mental illness as part of their work. As this workforce develops, there is a greater need to create new roles and define the boundaries between them.
The peer workforce roles include but are not limited to:
…
• Peer consultants work in partnership with mental health service providers to give consumer or
carer perspectives at all levels of planning, implementation and evaluation, and provide feedback.
https://www.livedexperienceaustralia.com.au/_files/ugd/907260_03122e9e815d46c987265442f7f6676c.pdf
Overview: https://www.livedexperienceaustralia.com.au/research-peer-project
From the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF), the combined national voice for mental health consumers and carers.
What is the peer workforce and why does it matter?
The NMHCCF believes that peer workers play a critical role in the transformational changes necessary to develop recovery-oriented mental health services and systems.
The mental health consumer and carer identified workforce is made up of those consumers and carers who are employed specifically on the basis of their personal lived experience of:
This lived experience is an essential qualification for their job, in addition to other qualifications, skills and experience required for the role they undertake.
Peer workers can be employed in government, public, private or community-managed services.
Peer worker roles
Apart from peer support work, peer worker roles can include:
…
A specific qualification – Certificate IV in Mental Health (Peer Work) – has been established to cement the professional role of the peer worker in the mental health and human services system. Peer worker roles are being developed, offered and filled across service providers.
capacity.
https://nmhccf.org.au/our-work/advocacy-briefs/the-peer-workforce
