Lived Experience (Peer) Work

Two people in a cafe drinking coffee at a wooden bench

What is Lived Experience (Peer) Work?

Designated Lived Experience (Peer) work requires that lived experience is an essential criterion, regardless of position type or setting. This means that individuals in these roles must be willing to purposefully draw on their personal experiences as part of their job. This is distinct from members of other workforces who are not required, employed or in some cases authorised to bring this perspective to their work.

Across all settings, the expertise of Lived Experience (Peer) workers arises not only from personal experience (individually, as a family member, carer, or significant other) but also from learning, training, and development. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, this expertise is also grounded in Social and Emotional Wellbeing, which connects cultural, spiritual, family, and community responsibilities with lived experience. This integration of lived and learned knowledge enables peer workers to draw on wider perspectives than their own, enriching their practice and supporting collective change.

The term “peer” can refer to people with shared identities, cultures, jobs, activities, or experiences. The term “lived experience” refers to first-hand, personal experience that connects someone to a particular peer group and informs their professional practice. This experience often involves navigating systemic barriers, stigma, discrimination, and personal recovery or healing journeys.

The Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces

The Western Australian Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces Framework outlines that the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces are comprised of three distinct groups:

Aboriginal Lived Experience (Peer) workforce

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience-led Peer Work is grounded in Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) and is an essential part of cultural responsibility and collective care. It is distinct in that it is deeply embedded in cultural knowledge, reciprocity, and community connection. This workforce is not divided into consumer or family/significant other/carer roles, as lived experience is understood in a more integrated way. As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience-led Peer Workforce Guide notes, “supporting each other is culture – something we’ve been doing forever – it just may not have been called peer work.” [1]

Consumer Lived Experience (Peer) workforce

The Consumer Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce is made up of individuals who have personally experienced mental distress, challenges related to mental health and/or alcohol and other drug use, suicidal distress and survival, or barriers to accessing support. These individuals work in designated roles that require the purposeful use of their lived experience to inform, enhance, and transform the systems they work within.

In the mental health context, Consumer Lived Experience (Peer) work is grounded in a distinct discipline that extends beyond personal experience. It incorporates collective knowledge, political and systemic awareness, trauma-informed practice, and relational ways of working. This discipline is rooted in social justice values, recovery-oriented approaches, and a rights-based understanding of mental health.

In suicide prevention contexts, peer roles are grounded in the same core values of mutuality, connection, and hope, while offering distinct insights into the lived realities of suicidal distress, survival, bereavement, and safety. Individuals with lived experience of suicide—whether through personal crisis, supporting a loved one, or losing someone to suicide—bring deep understanding, empathy, and strategies that foster trust and hope. Their insights shape prevention planning, education, and approaches to care, contributing to safer, more compassionate systems and helping reduce suicide attempts and deaths. [2]

Within the Alcohol and Other Drug sector, the Lived and Living Experience (LLE) (Peer) workforce is shaped by principles of harm reduction, community-led action, and self-determined healing. LLE workers draw on lived experiences of substance use, marginalisation, and navigating complex systems to support others through mutual connection and identification. [3] This knowledge is applied not only to direct peer support but also to drive service and systems improvement.

Peer work is the most established designated LLE role in the alcohol and other drug sector, spanning outreach, harm reduction, treatment, peer-run services, clinical settings, and the justice system.[4] Roles may include peer workers, peer mentors, recovery coaches, and peer educators, with responsibilities extending across direct support, advocacy, education, and governance.[4] Peer-led approaches foster trust, reduce substance-related harm, strengthen community connection, and support positive change at individual, organisational, and systemic levels.[4]

Family/Significant Other/Carer Lived Experience (Peer) workforce

The Family/Significant Other/Carer Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce includes people who have supported or continue to support someone experiencing mental health challenges, substance use and addiction, suicidal crisis, or related experiences or who have been bereaved by suicide. These roles are held by individuals in designated positions that intentionally draw on their family or carer lived experience as their primary source of knowledge.

This workforce is underpinned by a whole-of-family perspective, inclusive of diverse and dynamic relationships such as parents, siblings, partners, children, friends, family of choice, and supporters. Workers bring insight into family and systemic dynamics, trauma, grief, collective recovery, and the intergenerational impacts of distress and service use. Family/Significant other/carer Lived Experience workers may work in frontline support, systems advocacy, education, suicide aftercare, postvention, peer-led crisis support, research, or systemic leadership — always guided by their lived experience and grounded in relational, rights-based practice.

“Family/Significant Other/Carer Lived Experience (Peer) roles draw on experiences and perspectives of witnessing, walking beside, and supporting another person”
(WA Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces Framework, 2022, p. 25)

Specialisations

The WA Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces Framework recognises the diversity within and across the three workforces, including a wide range of emerging and existing areas of specialisation. You can explore these in more detail within the Framework.

Lived Experience (Peer) workers may have opportunities to work in areas that align with their own lived experience, community connections, or advocacy focus. This can enhance relevance, trust, and depth of support. Areas of specialisation may include:

  • Youth
  • Hearing voices
  • Perinatal mental health
  • Culturally & Linguistically Diverse populations
  • LGBTQIA+ populations
  • Neurodivergent and disability

The image is a diagram divided into two sections. The top half displays a Venn diagram with three overlapping circles against a black background. Each circle represents a different lived experience (LE) workforce: Consumer LE (Peer) in orange on the left, Aboriginal LE (Peer) in green in the middle, and Family/Significant Other LE (Peer) in orange on the right. The overlap between the circles suggests the intersection of these experiences. The bottom half, against a white background, lists four specialization areas related to the lived experience workforces, presented in lavender rectangular boxes with rounded corners. From left to right, the boxes are labeled: "Identification/Background" – Includes ethnoculturally and linguistically diverse (ELD) , Disability, Neurodivergency, LGBTQIA+SB, Veteran, Refugee etc. "Population" – Encompasses Perinatal, Infant, Children, Young People, Adult, Older Adult etc. "Setting" – Covers Treatment, Support, Community, NGO, Private, Government etc. "Location" – Details Rural, Remote, Regional, Metropolitan, Online, Face-to-Face etc. "Experience" – Describes Problematic alcohol and other drug use, suicidality, psychological distress, trauma, eating disorder, forensic/justice, homelessness etc. Above the specialization boxes, a label reads "Specialisations*". Connecting lines from the circles above to the specializations below suggest that these workforces can have specializations in the mentioned categories. The diagram seems to be a conceptual framework for understanding the diversity and areas of expertise within peer-based workforces that have lived experience as a foundational element.

Key Characteristics of Lived Experience (Peer) Work

Lived Experience (Peer) work is distinct from other roles due to its intentional, purposeful use of lived experience and adherence to peer work values and principles. Key characteristics include:

  • Mutuality and Reciprocity – Building authentic relationships based on shared lived experiences.
  • Trauma-Informed Practice – Recognising the impacts of trauma, ensuring a safe and empowering approach.
  • Strengths-Based Approach – Focusing on hope, recovery, harm reduction, and self-determination.
  • Cultural and Social Justice Awareness – Embedding anti-oppressive practice and recognising intersectionality.

The Role of Peer Work in Systemic Change

Beyond direct support roles, Lived Experience (Peer) workers contribute to policy development, education, research, and leadership. Lived Experience (Peer) roles are increasingly found in:

  • Workforce development and training (e.g. Lived Experience Educators, Peer Trainers).
  • System reform and co-design (e.g. Lived Experience Advisors, Peer Consultants).
  • Leadership and governance (e.g. Lived Experience Executive roles, Peer-Led Organisations).

Embedding Lived Experience at all levels of service design and decision-making is critical for sustained systemic change.

In the featured video we explore the diversity and unique characteristics of the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces.

Peer Snapshots

These snapshots were created in 2022 to showcase examples of Lived Experience (Peer) roles in Western Australia. They remain relevant as illustrations of the diversity of peer-related positions, though some individuals may no longer be in the roles or organisations mentioned. The snapshots sit alongside more recent Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Insights, which feature updated stories, videos, and sector perspectives.

Explore Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Insights
References

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