Placement opportunities for Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work students are now available throughout Victoria, enabling more people to graduate and start their career in the lived and living experience workforce.

Students can apply for a placement with the support of the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) they are studying with. Pilot Student Placement Program organisations include Wellways, Neami National, Orygen, Eastern Health and Uniting Vic Tas.

The Pilot Student Placement Program is coordinated by Mind Australia’s Lived Experience Career Compass.

Neami National 

Neami’s Victorian services are offering consumer placements for two-to-three students per month to complete their required placement hours for the Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work. Neami’s placements (dependent on capacity) are available at the Medicare Mental Health Centre and Step Thru Care programs in Geelong, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals in Whittlesea and Latrobe, the Youth Residential Recovery and outreach programs across the east and south-east of Melbourne, and the Psychosocial Outreach Recovery Programs in the north and east of Melbourne.

These placements are part-time with the possibility of some full-time positions. Participants will be assigned a peer mentor to shadow during placement so they can observe day-to-day peer and organisational practice such as multidisciplinary team meetings, consumer engagement (individual and groups), record keeping, and reflection and debriefing.

Neami will conduct a police clearance as part of compliance requirements, and students will need to obtain their own employee Working With Children Check before placements can commence. Neami can accept a volunteer WWCC, it is not mandatory to have an employee WWCC.

Click here for more information or email [email protected]

Wellways 

Wellways is offering an exciting placement opportunity for those who are completing the Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work. Currently, they are running group placement blocks of up to six students. Their placement structure generally runs for six weeks, with a time commitment of two days per week. In this program you will receive a comprehensive orientation at Wellways’ head office in Fairfield. They run you through designing and delivering peer groups, preparing you for attending your placement site and setting you up to complete your student assessments. You will then be placed at one of our Prevention and Recovery Care, ListenWell or Mental Health and Wellbeing Local programs. These programs are located across metro Melbourne. If you are located in a regional area, you are encouraged to apply as limited placements are available at Wellways’ regional hubs.

Within these programs you will have exposure to multi-disciplinary teams including lived experience, clinical and other non-clinical team members. Wellways’ services are participant facing and provide a rich student experience.

Wellways early careers team which includes senior lived experience peer workers will support you to complete your 80 hours of placement whilst giving you a warm introduction to the industry. Wellways will provide students with discipline specific peer supervision and regular co-reflection spaces to support their learning. Wellways accepts applications for all types of lived experience (carer, consumer, alcohol and other drug, and/or First Nations) roles, however, they cannot guarantee exposure to all specialty areas. 

All students will require a Working With Children’s Check, National Police Check, and NDIS screening check before commencing. If you wish to visit one of Wellways clinically managed services, students will also need to have been vaccinated for COVID and have an up-to-date flu vaccination.

Click here for more information or email [email protected]

Eastern Health 

Placements with the Eastern Health Lived Experience team provide incredible opportunities to work across a wide range of settings including inpatient units, community teams and specialist services. Eastern Health meets with every student individually to understand their lived experience and their unique learning and career goals, and they place students in services across their program that align to their specific goals and interests. Throughout placement, students learn from experienced peer workers and receive regular discipline supervision from their leadership team to support them as they develop their peer practice.

Eastern Health has a large lived experience workforce of approximately 60 people embedded across a wide range of mental health services, supporting everyone from children to older adults. Eastern Health accepts applications for consumer and family/carer lived experience roles.

Students wishing to secure placement at Eastern Health must provide a current National Police Check, Working With Children Check, and evidence of several vaccinations including: annual influenza, hepatitis A and B, whooping cough, measles, mumps, tuberculosis and rubella.

Applications are open only to Swinburne and Box Hill TAFE students.

Click here for more information or email [email protected]

Orygen 

Orygen’s peer work placement program is a part-time placement covering 80 hours onsite at the Orygen Youth Prevention and Recovery Care (YPARC) at Parkville, and/or at one of five Orygen-run headspace centres. Orygen’s placement program is ideal for peer workers looking to work in youth mental health services and students who are interested in youth peer work.

Orygen placement students will have the opportunity to shadow experienced peer workers during their placements, and will receive support and consumer perspective supervision from the Peer Work Placement Coordinator. Students will work within a multidisciplinary team and engage with peer support activities onsite such as group facilitation, shadowing one-on-one sessions with peer workers, and connecting with young people from a peer perspective.

Participants will receive a two-day orientation to Orygen focusing on orienting them to the organisation and contextualising their studies to the placement environment. Students will be supported to understand Orygen’s approach to peer work, introduced to key concepts in youth mental health, the PARC/headspace models, and initial co-reflection about the placement itself.

Participants must be under the age of 30 at the time of placement, have evidence or written approval to undertake placement from your education provider, and have access to a laptop or portable device during your placement period. Participants are also required to have a valid Working With Children Check, a National Police Check and proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Click here for more information or email [email protected]

Uniting Vic Tas 

Uniting offers students a four-week placement working Monday to Wednesday at their Prahran Hub on Chapel Street. The purpose of the 80-hour placement is to gain practical experience in a supportive space while utilising classroom theory and learnings. Students will receive one-on-one supervision, mentorship from staff that work in the roles on a daily basis, and also take part in co-reflective practice. This is an opportunity to come together with their peers and the Peer Work Trainer/Peer Lead to discuss their learnings and findings and explore their experiences in depth. Placements are available to all lived and living experience cohorts.

Placement opportunities include:

  • Hartley's Community Meals - a warm and relaxing cafe and community space, that offers nutritious meals and hot drinks to bring the community together, as well as access to further supports.
  • Emergency relief service - a community service that offers a range of food assistance, personal care items, and material aid as well as access and referrals to further supports.
  • Uniting Op Shop - a boutique style op shop specialising in clothing, homewares and accessories at prices affordable to the whole community. Vouchers for Uniting Op Shops are made available to people accessing other Uniting programs, and material aid can also be accessed in this way by consumers of Uniting's services.

Uniting requires students to complete a Working With Children Check (WWCC), a National Police Check and take part in mandatory training modules.
Click here for more information or email [email protected]

Information Sessions

Applicants are invited to attend one of our upcoming information sessions. Once registered, a link to the session will be provided. The sessions will be recorded and made available on the Lived Experience Career Compass – Pilot Student Placement Program webpage following the session.

It is important that students either attend a live session or view the recording before completing their application.

Applications 

Applicants are encouraged to view the Pilot Student Placement information session recording found below.

Information session Q & A

We received a number of questions throughout our recent Information sessions. You can find these questions and the answers here.

To apply for placement opportunities, click here to complete the application form. 

Please be sure to include your resume and cover letter in PDF form. 

Click here to read the requirements for filling in the cover letter for your application.