Hi Forums Community,
At the end of September, we would like to invite you to a week long community consultation on the SANE Forums to help us develop and implement a new employment readiness program (Monday 26th September- Sunday 2nd October).
SANE Peer Pathways Program
Background
The SANE Forums are an example of the amazing power of peer support, the way it can shape the lives of a community of peers in a mutual, safe and understanding environment. We have heard from members of the Forums, and our Community Guide team, that building skills and experience of offering peer support in the Forums can be a step into the peer workforce, or exploring employment in mental health fields as a career.
We need your help to develop a pilot program that will support participants to explore peer work as a career pathway.
Why peer pathways?
During recovery, there are times when we may need to take time off or face barriers to re-entering the workforce. Peer Pathways aims to support those experiencing barriers to entering the workforce, or who have been unemployed or underemployed for a period of time to gain support, training and practical experience in peer work.
This program also adds to roles in the mental health sector, as there are more and more peer work roles becoming available, but without the support pathways for people to try peer support, get foundational training, and have the opportunity to gain practical peer support experience before applying for roles.
SANE has been funded by the Department of Social Services to deliver a new program in a small pilot starting in three PHN regions in Australia (Wide Bay in QLD, Darwin in NT, and Hobart in TAS).
Our goal:
We aim to create a new pathway into the Community Guide Program and opportunities in peer support at SANE that can support those who have been out of work, or experience barriers to safe and supportive work experience.
We envision that this program will build on the principles and supports of the Community Guide Program (including training, mentoring and support), to provide new pathways for those to prepare for volunteering, education and employment.
At the moment, this is a pilot program- so we are trialling this program on a smaller scale to see if it creates the impact that we hope it will. Our hope is that if the program is successful, that we can deliver it more broadly across Australia. You are welcome to read more about the program here: https://www.sane.org/peer-support/peer-pathway-program
The consultation:
At the end of this month, starting Monday the 26th of September, we will be posting a question or two a day to hear your thoughts about the program to inform the design, delivery and evaluation over the next 2 years.
If you are interested in this consultation, feel free to click the "support" button below and I will tag you when the consultation starts. This is an exciting opportunity to share your thoughts and help us to build this new program together
- Daisydreamer and the SANE Lived Experience Team
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