"The Peer Workforce" Advocacy Brief (Updated June 2025)
The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum have published an updated version of their advocacy brief, “The Peer Workforce.” The new advocacy brief includes the following updated research and resources outlining new developments within the space:
What is the peer workforce and why does it matter?
Lived Experience (Peer) Workers convert firsthand and collective lived experience wisdom into expertise and valued knowledge and skills. Their roles are distinguished by a commitment to using lived experience-based knowledge to benefit others, uphold human rights, achieve service transformation and continuous improvement, and build relationships as the core of their work, using a consistent strategy of peer values and principles.
The lived experience perspective is a way of knowing, reducing discrimination and prejudicial attitudes, modelling the effectiveness of hope and purpose as drivers of mental health policy and system reform, self-determined recovery, and living a life of their own choosing. It is about reconceptualising and thinking about mental health experiences for people who are often marginalised, stigmatised, and discriminated against. It is about belonging and regaining citizenship, contributing to self-determination, exercising leadership, knowledge, expertise and using recovery-oriented language as a unique discipline with precious insights that go far beyond service improvement.
Many people in non-designated roles may identify privately or publicly as having lived experience. Their insights are acknowledged as valuable, and we need strategies for increasing acceptance and valuing of these perspectives within workplaces. However, people in these roles are not employed specifically to work from lived experience perspectives. Instead, their roles are informed by different priorities and/or disciplines and, as a result, they are not part of the designated Lived Experience workforce.
Peer worker roles
Apart from peer support work, peer worker roles can include:
- Leadership and management.
- Advocacy and representation.
- Consultancy and advisory positions.
- Health promotion.
- Education and training.
- Supervision and mentoring.
- Quality improvement, auditing, and research.
Specialist peer roles also exist for specific communities, such as youth, older adults, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Alcohol and Other Drugs (AoD), suicide prevention, people with eating disorders, veterans, and first responders. Terminology varies between and across jurisdictions and community sector organisations. However, terminology changes reflect a growing national recognition and paradigm shift in valuing peer work. The peer workforce is now an essential element within the suite of service offerings across the entire human service arena and not merely an optional supplement to clinical services.
NMHCCF Recommends
The NMHCCF outlines 13 clear, actionable, and targeted recommendations for decision-makers to implement, at both governmental and organisational levels. The peer workforce is not an adjunct—it is foundational. The advocacy brief outlines that building an equitable, supported, and professional peer workforce will yield powerful outcomes for mental health systems, improve wellbeing, and drive cost-effective reform. We can all better support the essential peer workforce in Australia through implementing the recommendations in the document.
Download the full updated advocacy brief
The Peer Workforce Advocacy Brief (Updated June 2025)
Download the previous advocacy brief
Advocacy Brief - The Peer Workforce
