Session D2
Tracks
Stream D (Level 1)
| Friday, May 16, 2025 |
| 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM |
| Room 6 | INDIGO (Level 1) |
Overview
- Experiences of Australian Lived Experience (Peer) Workers: Interprofessional Practice Considerations for Psychologists | Dr Imogen Rehm (30 mins)
- Helping frontline and emergency support workers maintain wellbeing: APS Disaster Response Network | Dr Carolyn Deans,
Stuart Le Marseny, Lynne McCormack, Lynette Page
(30 mins)
Presenter
Dr Imogen Rehm
Victoria University
Experiences of Australian Lived Experience (Peer) Workers: Interprofessional Practice Considerations for Psychologists
3:15 PM - 3:45 PMAbstract
Background:
Peer workers are an important and increasingly professionalised workforce within the Australian mental healthcare system (Byrne et al., 2021). Peer workers use their lived experience of distress, personal recovery, and use of mental healthcare services to support others navigating similar circumstances by forming mutually beneficial relationships (Stratford et al., 2016).
Peer-support offers many benefits to mental healthcare service users (Bellamy et al., 2017; White et al., 2020) and syntheses of qualitative studies suggest that peer workers themselves experience improved self-esteem, social contacts, and knowledge about their own mental health (Gillard et al., 2022). However, challenges such as poorly defined roles and stigmatising attitudes held by non-peer professionals may undermine these benefits, posing a risk to the wellbeing and retention of the peer workforce (Burke et al., 2018; Clossey et al., 2018).
Study aims and method:
Most studies investigating benefits and challenges associated with the peer-support role have occurred in North America or the United Kingdom (UK) (Gillard et al., 2022). Our study aims to understand the experiences of Australian peer workers to inform development of interprofessional practices that may best support this workforce.
In collaboration with a Peer Worker Reference Group (PWRG), we adapted the Experiences of Providing Peer Support Questionnaire originally developed by Burke et al. (2018) for the UK context. The PWRG provided recommendations to modify, remove, or add items to ensure its suitability for Australian peer workers. The adapted questionnaire was disseminated nationally as an online self-report survey, which additionally included validated measures of personal recovery, quality of life, and self-stigma.
Content/findings:
To date, 141 peer workers (61% women) have completed the survey. Most are employed in non-profit (37%) or government (31%) mental healthcare services in Victoria (42%) or New South Wales (16%).
Preliminary results indicate that peer workers derive personal enjoyment and satisfaction from the role (99%), new knowledge gained from peers (99%), and through making a valued contribution to others’ lives (98%). The most commonly endorsed challenges include stress associated with a role that is challenging (71%) and poorly defined or supported at one's workplace (67%), and pressure from non-peer colleagues to “stay well” (67%).
Updated findings will be presented, including analysis of the factors that contribute to peer workers’ quality of life, personal recovery, and self-stigma. Implications for psychologists working alongside peer workers will also be discussed.
Peer workers are an important and increasingly professionalised workforce within the Australian mental healthcare system (Byrne et al., 2021). Peer workers use their lived experience of distress, personal recovery, and use of mental healthcare services to support others navigating similar circumstances by forming mutually beneficial relationships (Stratford et al., 2016).
Peer-support offers many benefits to mental healthcare service users (Bellamy et al., 2017; White et al., 2020) and syntheses of qualitative studies suggest that peer workers themselves experience improved self-esteem, social contacts, and knowledge about their own mental health (Gillard et al., 2022). However, challenges such as poorly defined roles and stigmatising attitudes held by non-peer professionals may undermine these benefits, posing a risk to the wellbeing and retention of the peer workforce (Burke et al., 2018; Clossey et al., 2018).
Study aims and method:
Most studies investigating benefits and challenges associated with the peer-support role have occurred in North America or the United Kingdom (UK) (Gillard et al., 2022). Our study aims to understand the experiences of Australian peer workers to inform development of interprofessional practices that may best support this workforce.
In collaboration with a Peer Worker Reference Group (PWRG), we adapted the Experiences of Providing Peer Support Questionnaire originally developed by Burke et al. (2018) for the UK context. The PWRG provided recommendations to modify, remove, or add items to ensure its suitability for Australian peer workers. The adapted questionnaire was disseminated nationally as an online self-report survey, which additionally included validated measures of personal recovery, quality of life, and self-stigma.
Content/findings:
To date, 141 peer workers (61% women) have completed the survey. Most are employed in non-profit (37%) or government (31%) mental healthcare services in Victoria (42%) or New South Wales (16%).
Preliminary results indicate that peer workers derive personal enjoyment and satisfaction from the role (99%), new knowledge gained from peers (99%), and through making a valued contribution to others’ lives (98%). The most commonly endorsed challenges include stress associated with a role that is challenging (71%) and poorly defined or supported at one's workplace (67%), and pressure from non-peer colleagues to “stay well” (67%).
Updated findings will be presented, including analysis of the factors that contribute to peer workers’ quality of life, personal recovery, and self-stigma. Implications for psychologists working alongside peer workers will also be discussed.
.....
Dr Imogen Rehm is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology with the College of Sport, Health and Engineering, a Research Fellow with the Institute for Health and Sport, and Chair of the Master of Professional Psychology program at Victoria University. She holds broad clinical, teaching, and research interests in the areas of psychosocial recovery, digital mental health, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.
Dr Carolyn Deans
Australian Psychological Society
Helping frontline and emergency support workers maintain wellbeing: APS Disaster Response Network
3:45 PM - 4:15 PMAbstract
The APS Disaster Response Network (DRN) is a network of APS psychologists who provide pro-bono support to frontline and emergency workers who deal with disasters or emergencies. The DRN works through partner organisations to deliver one-off wellbeing care when it is not available via other means.
This panel discussion presents experiences of delivering support to workers within various organisations. There are no definitive models of supporting the wellbeing of frontline and emergency support workers, but there are evidence-informed approaches which the DRN uses. We present some case examples of how psychologists have offered wellbeing support under the DRN.
This panel discussion presents experiences of delivering support to workers within various organisations. There are no definitive models of supporting the wellbeing of frontline and emergency support workers, but there are evidence-informed approaches which the DRN uses. We present some case examples of how psychologists have offered wellbeing support under the DRN.
.....
Dr Carolyn Deans MAPS is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience working in high-risk environments, including military, emergency services, first responders, and frontline workers. She has a combination of private practice, consulting, training and internal organizational expertise working with various populations to support their mental health and wellbeing.
Carolyn has worked across local and international settings in clinical and community health interventions, as well as research projects on resilience and wellbeing in teenagers, parents, hard-to-reach populations, high-risk workers, and veterans. She worked in academic research, teaching and supervision of students in these areas. Her work spans program design, strategy development, clinical governance, and learning and development, with a focus on developing tailored interventions for those in high-risk occupations.
Currently, Carolyn coordinates the Australian Psychological Society's Disaster Response Network, which connects over 1,000 volunteer psychologists who assist frontline and emergency service workers in maintaining their psychological resilience and wellbeing during critical incidents.
Mr Stuart Le Marseny
Helping frontline and emergency support workers maintain wellbeing: APS Disaster Response Network
3:45 PM - 4:15 PM.....
Stuart worked as senior manager for the Australian Red Cross and has been deployed numerous times to both coordinate Disaster response and support psychosocial aspects of the response in Australia. Stuart has also been deployed several times by the international Red Cross in Papua New Guinea both coordinate Disaster response and support psychosocial aspects of the response where Stuart lived for 4 years.
Prof Lynne McCormack
University Of Newcastle
Helping frontline and emergency support workers maintain wellbeing: APS Disaster Response Network
3:45 PM - 4:15 PM.....
Dr Lynne McCormack is and Honorary Professor at the University of Newcastle, a researcher, clinician, supervisor, and humanitarian mental health psychosocial delegate. With greater than 100 peer reviewed publications, her career spans over 3 decades with a focus on the interface of complex trauma and posttraumatic growth.
She is a member of the Disaster Response Network, a national volunteer network of Australian psychologists with specialist training in supporting first responders affected by disasters and is an international delegate/trainer for the Red Cross. She has deployed to international and national crises including the summer of 2019/2020 bushfires in Australia, and to Vietnam, Aceh, East Timor, and Uganda. She fosters disaster risk reduction and growth out of adversity.
Amongst her community work she is a mental health advisor for Hostage International, supports the carers of survivors of child sacrifice at Kyampisi in Uganda, a Board Member for Heal for Life, and has secured successive government grants for cultural immersions for students in the Pacific region. Her own career creates a platform for mentoring and supervising the next generation of psychologists supporting the wider humanitarian, military and first responder communities and all those confronted by interpersonal trauma.
Ms Lyn Page
Self
Helping frontline and emergency support workers maintain wellbeing: APS Disaster Response Network
3:45 PM - 4:15 PM.....
I have worked as a psychologist for over 40 years including education and private practice. I have been on multiple deployments with the DRN since 2011 to support Red Cross volunteers after natural disasters , and more recently NSW Wildlife Carers. I presently provide onsite support to front line responders after events. This sort of work has a lot of challenges but is incredibly rewarding and Im looking forward to answering any questions about my experiences
