Mind Australia is delighted to announce the appointment of Tim Heffernan as a Temporary Board Director.
Tim is an experienced consumer peer worker and currently serves as Chair for BEING – Mental Health Consumers, the peak body for consumers in New South Wales. He works part-time as an Official Visitor with the NSW Official Visitors Program, and as a lived experience researcher with ALIVE and Charles Sturt University.
Tim was Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Mental Health Commission from December 2018 to May 2026. Prior to this role, he served as a member of the Commission’s Community Advisory Council from its establishment in 2014. From 2017-2022 he was the Mental Health Peer Coordinator at COORDINARE, South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network.
He was also Co-Chair of the National Mental Health Commission’s National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy Steering Committee, and Deputy Co-Chair of the National Peer Workforce Development Guidelines Steering Committee.
Tim identifies as a person with lived experience of mental health challenges and recovery, and is a passionate advocate for the development and support of the peer workforce.
In 2013, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Boston University’s Global Leadership Institute, where he developed a co-designed project, Safety for All. This initiative involved peer workers training mental health nurses working on acute mental health wards.
Tim said it is a privilege to join an organisation that has been a recognised leader in the delivery and innovation of lived experience approaches to mental health support.
“I’m honoured to join the Board of Mind Australia, an organisation that developed and implemented a vision for the peer workforce, which was first realised under the inspirational leadership of the late Anthony Stratford,” he said.
Tim officially commenced in his role as Temporary Director on 30 September, substituting for Erandathie Jayakody while Erandathie is on extended leave.