The team who deliver our Lived Experience Workforce Program come to us with a lifetime of lived experience that we not only benefit from, but so does our sector. Recently Lizzie Graham celebrated 5 years of working with us, it was a moment of reflection and for them to share with us the depth of knowledge, wisdom and lived experience they bring to the role. Please read on and hear their story.

People have often asked me, How have you sustained your passion for this kind of work for 40 years?” I simply say, Gratitude. For those who have walked before me, those walking with me, and for those still to come

I have been reflecting on my 5-year anniversary at the Mental Health Coalition of SA this week and what a privilege it is.

My role within the Lived Experience Workforce Program has been some of the most rewarding work I think I have ever been involved with. It feels like every other role I have had in my near 40 years of Community Services has brought me here. Here every day I am drawing on all my skills, experiences and knowledge to lead the development of a highly skilled, qualified, authentic and connected lived experience workforce.

But it is not just this role that has shown me what the value of a living / lived experience workforce can bring to a person’s life.

When I was a young teenager I was locked up in secured sections of one of those big old cold buildings we called psychiatric hospitals. I was forced to wear men’s pyjamas 3 sizes too big in a padded cell with a canvas mattress on a cold floor. (It wasn’t good to say the least.)

My life changing moment 40 years ago, was when I was placed in an AOD rehab staff by a 100% lived experience workforce. This was an absolute game changer – to be learning skills role modelled by the staff.

I felt hope for the first time in my life – that change was possible. It was because those lived experience workers had walked that journey and had developed practical skills in self-determination and choice.

My first lived experience role was working in Redfern Sydney with a full peer workforce in a drug rehab in the early 90s. It was exciting, fun and a privilege walking alongside people, but it was also heartbreakingly confronting. If only the National Lived Experience Peer Workforce Framework was available then, perhaps my learnings would have been softer.

From then and over time I have witnessed first hand the growth of the peer workforce. It was a growth that was led by ground-breaking organisations who invested in their staff with lived experience. They wanted to see them grow and become a professional workforce.

The power of community with peer work is incredible and I witnessed this first hand with the HIV/AIDS sector and LGBTQIA+ community. I have seen the emergence of the carer and consumer movements and am very privileged to have lived and worked in an aboriginal community. Here I observed how the community worked together and then was invited into it as a collaboration with trust and respect.

I could go on with so much more… however I will stop here and say thank you to everyone for sharing in the learnings, it’s been a journey beyond my wildest dreams and I can’t wait for what’s next in this space!