2.2 History

A group of adults engaged in conversation at a community event with a colorful backdrop featuring images of diverse individuals and the words 'learning', 'sharing', and 'dreaming'.

Those That Came Before

Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces across the mental health, alcohol and other drugs and suicide prevention sectors are grounded in the histories of social and civil rights movements led by grassroots groups and communities. [1]

These social movements have often begun in protest against injustice and discrimination, and they advocate for broader social change as well as service and policy reform. [2]

A key value of Lived Experience (Peer) work is the recognition of those who came before us, who advocated for improved treatment and policies, in order to recognise their contribution to the place we find ourselves in today. In many ways, it is a history of protest and self-determination. Such protest signals the contribution that people with lived experience can make toward turning responses that have been harmful (or less than helpful) into responses that meets people’s needs. This history simultaneously signals the belief in, and value of, doing it ‘on our own’ (peer led and centred).[3]

The World Health Organisation has positioned health as a human right and as a result the concept of citizen participation became integrated into international health policy. The Declaration of Alma Ata in 1978 which signified a major milestone in public health stated that “the people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care”.

The mobilisation of lived experience voices has led to calls for better responses to suicide, mental distress and substance use. Moreover, we have seen that the emergence of lived experience led advocacy and peer support has emboldened the development of harm reduction-based responses for people experiencing suicidal feelings and thoughts, substance use, hearing voices and other distressing phenomena, states or distressing beliefs. The unified call across mental health, alcohol and other drug and Aboriginal peer groups is for a shift in focus from a deficits-based, biomedical only approach towards addressing the social and structural barriers determinants people face that have an impact on their quality of life. The formation of consumer peak bodies and carer-led entities in some states and territories and the establishment of Certificate IV Mental Health Peer Work qualification in 2012 has led to significant growth and opportunities in the Lived Experience (Peer) workforce. [4]

Today the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce is diverse and continuously growing as a profession. It is increasingly recognised as having experience, knowledge and expertise equal to that of other disciplines in the mental health, alcohol and other drug sectors and suicide prevention sectors, and for its effective approach to working alongside people experiencing mental health and/ or alcohol and other drug issues

The premise of the Alma Ata still holds true. By listening to, and learning from the experiences, and embedding the expertise of those who have lived through mental health challenges, alcohol and other drug issues or suicide ideation, either directly or indirectly we can enable transformation of our services to meet the needs of those who use them.

WA Framework comprehensive social and political history

Detailed History

A more in depth look into the information presented on the timeline below can be found here

Detailed History

History Timeline

1600s

Ex-inmates, family, friends and allies make changes to how people in ‘mad houses’ or asylums are treated.

1700s

Temperance movement for the abstinence from alcohol use involving family members and friends.

1800s

Ex-asylum patients first employed within the institutions they had been detained in due to their ability to empathise with their ‘inmates’.

1930s

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) formed as a peer support group for abstinence from alcohol.

1947

First WA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.

1951

Al Anon (US) is formed by family members to support relatives and friends of people linked to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

1950s - 1970s

  • The rise of ‘people power’.
  • Civil right and social movements.
  • ‘Psychiatric survivors’ including families and allies highlight oppression, social inequality and loss of human rights.
  • Common cause with black rights, gay rights, women’s rights, disability rights movements.
  • 1967 – First GROW group meeting.
  • 1969 – Arnstein’s ‘Ladder of Participation’. This was founded on increasingly prevalent ideas of ‘citizen control’ and ‘citizen participation’.

1970s - 1980s

  • 1974 – Living Proud the first LGBTIQA+SB peer organisation incorporated in WA.
  • 1975 – Holyoake established and first paid Lived Experience (Peer) worker at Grow WA.
  • 1976 – ARAFMI first public meeting (now known as HelpingMinds).
  • 1978 – World Health Organisation Declaration of Alma Ata – “The people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care.”
  • 1988 – Formation of a range of activist groups including the Mental Patients Union (UK), MindFreedom International (US), Campaign Against Psychiatric Injustice and Coercion (Australia).

1990s

  • Late 80’s/early 90’s WA Substance Users’ Association established.
  • Advocacy groups such as the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry founded.
  • 1990 Schizophrenia Fellowship (Mental Illness Fellowship of Western Australia) incorporated.
  • 1991 First funded Sex Worker Peer workforce in WA and Australia as part of the WESTERN AUSTRALIAN LAW AND SEX WORKER HEALTH (LASH) Study
  • ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’.
  • 1992 Australia’s First National Mental Health Plan released.
  • 1993 Burdekin Report into human rights and mental illness released.
  • 1995 – 2003 Health Consumers’ Council Advocacy Project.
  • 1996 Carers WA established.
  • 1996 Parent Drug Information Service established.

2000s

  • 2001 Association of Mental Health Consumers formed.
  • 2003 Q-Life Peer services started.
  • 2004 Body Esteem Program began.
  • 2004 First Lived Experience (Peer) worker at a public community mental health service.
  • 2004 First ‘consumer consultants’ employed at public health service.
  • 2005 Consumers of Mental Health WA incorporated.
  • 2005 Hearing Voices Network began.
  • 2005 Statewide Consumer Participation Program commenced.
  • 2005 Richmond Fellowship WA employs voice hearer peers.
  • 2006 First Lived Experience (Peer) worker employed within an inpatient ward.
  • 2007 HealthRight Project & Peer Advocacy and Support Service undertaken.
  • 2008 Graylands Hospital employs peer staff.
  • 2007 Personal Helpers and Mentors (PHAMS) programs established, employing Lived Experience (Peer) workers.
  • 2007 First statewide Lived Experience (Peer) Work Coordinator employed.
  • 2008 First Lived Experience (Peer) academic at the University of Western Australia engaged.

2010s

  • NGO’s like Ruah, St Vincent de Paul Society and Neami National create peer LE (Peer) programs.
  • 2010 Mental Health Matters 2 was founded by individuals and families.
  • 2010 Mental Health Commission established with a Consumer Advisor. employed in 2011.
  • 2011 CoMHWA funded as mental health consumer peak body.
  • 2011 Allies in Change program started (2015 in Kalgoorlie).
  • 2012 Peer Work qualification established.
  • 2012 Peer led and run Recovery Rocks established.
  • North Metro employs a comprehensive LE (Peer) Workforce.
  • 2015 Scholarship program for Peer Work qualification established.
  • 2015 Perth Children’s Hospital Peer Program established.
  • 2015 Broome Recovery College opened.
  • 2016 Outcare Peer Program starts.
  • 2016 Valuing Lived Experience Program at Curtin University initiated.
  • 2017 Choices Post-Discharge Program started.
  • 2018 The Wungening and WA Primary Health Alliance Workforce Capacity Building Project ‘Djandoo Wirin Koonger’.
  • 2018 WA Country Health Service Peer Program initiated.
  • 2018 Alcohol and Other Drugs Consumer and Community Coalition established.
  • 2018 Lived Experience (Peer) run Wellness Initiative established.
  • 2019 WA Recovery College opened.

2020s

  • 2020 Lived Experience representation in mental health and alcohol and other drugs governance structures.
  • 2020 Solid Steps Alcohol and Other Drugs prison program starts.
  • 2020 Consumers of Mental Health WA is funded to lead the ASPIRE Project.
  • 2020 Productivity Commission Inquiry Report released.
  • 2021 Safe Haven opened as an alternative to emergency departments.
  • 2021 Consumers of Mental Health WA’s commences Peer Pathways
    a peer navigation service.
  • 2021 National Suicide Prevention Adviser Final Advice.
  • 2021 National Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Development Guidelines released.
  • 2022 Momentum QP opened for young people, employing Lived Experience (Peer) workers.
  • All five public health service employ Lived Experience (Peer) workers.
  • 2022 Increased Peer Work qualification scholarships through state and federal funding.
  • 2022 The WA Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Framework released.
  • 2022 Increased Peer Work qualification scholarships through state and federal funding.
  • 2022 Dedicated state funding allocated to implement initiatives to build the capacity of the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce including the organisations that employ them.
  • 2022 Scoping of a Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce association underway.
References