Online Peer Work Supervision Australia

Peer work is demanding in ways that clinical work is not. The specific labour of drawing on your own lived experience, navigating systems that do not always know how to hold the role, carrying the weight of repeated disclosure, working in environments where peer drift is a constant pressure; this is distinct work, and it requires distinct supervision. Generic clinical supervision, however well-intentioned, often cannot meet it.

Online peer work supervision at LEXs offers a reflective, non-hierarchical space shaped specifically for lived and living experience practitioners. Sessions are delivered via secure telehealth to peer workers across Australia, individually or in groups, aligned with the National Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Development Guidelines (Byrne et al., 2021).

Who Peer Work Supervision Is For

This supervision is suited to lived and living experience practitioners across a range of roles:

• Peer Support Workers in community mental health, inpatient settings, AOD services, family violence services, NDIS psychosocial supports, and CaLD community peer work

• Consumer Consultants and Carer Consultants

• Family and Carer Peer Support Workers

• Specialist Peer Workers, including those working with CaLD communities, First Nations communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, young people, or specific clinical populations

• Lived/living experience practitioners in research, education, and training roles

• Peer workers in designated senior or leadership positions

• Lived/living experience advisors and consultants in policy, governance, and systems advocacy

• Practitioners in hybrid roles where lived experience intersects with clinical, organisational, or academic responsibilities

• Peer workers in private practice and those establishing independent lived experience-led services

You do not need to fit a single role title to access supervision here. The peer workforce in Australia is evolving rapidly and includes many emerging and hybrid roles; supervision is shaped around your actual practice rather than a narrow definition.

What Supervision at LEXs Actually Involves

Sessions are 60 minutes, delivered on a secure, encrypted telehealth platform. Individual supervision is offered as standard. Frequency is shaped to your context, workload, and energy. Group supervision is available on request.

The approach is non-hierarchical and collaborative. You bring what you need to bring; the supervision follows from there.

Content of any given session might include:

• Reflecting on the specific labour of using lived experience in practice

• Navigating peer drift, role clarity, and the subtle pressures to become quasi-clinical

• Processing the emotional impact of repeated disclosure and proximity to distress

• Working through organisational dynamics that can be challenging for peer roles, including tokenism, structural marginalisation, and co-option

• Ethical reflections specific to peer work and lived experience practice

• Navigating boundaries in contexts where peer relationships are structurally different

• Holding the weight of working in systems that have harmed you or people you love

• Sustaining hope, purpose, and values-led practice in demanding environments

• Celebrating growth, naming strengths, and planning professional development

• Supporting transitions into senior, advisory, or leadership roles

Supervision here takes the specific ethics, risks, and wisdom of peer work seriously. It does not require you to translate your experience into clinical frameworks to make it legible.

Alignment with National Peer Workforce Guidelines

Supervision at LEXs is informed by the National Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Development Guidelines, which identify reflective supervision as a cornerstone of sustainable peer practice

The guidelines recognise that peer workers need supervision that is:

• Discipline-specific rather than generic clinical supervision

• Reflective and restorative, not only task-focused

• Trauma-informed and psychologically safe

• Respectful of peer workforce values and ethics

• Available consistently rather than reactively

These principles shape how supervision is held at LEXs. For organisations supporting their peer workforce, written records of supervision can be provided to meet governance and workforce development requirements.

Supervision for CaLD and Multicultural Peer Workers

Peer workers from CaLD and multicultural backgrounds often carry layers that mainstream peer supervision does not always know how to hold. The specific experience of being one of few peer workers from a multicultural background in a team. The fatigue of cultural translation alongside peer labour. The weight of working with communities your own family comes from, particularly when the mental health and suicide prevention experiences you draw on are shaped by migration, displacement, or cultural and religious contexts that mainstream services have not been built for.

LEXs offers supervision where these conversations are integral rather than peripheral. I am a CaLD-background practitioner with lived experience of migration, caregiving, and suicide bereavement across borders. If you have been in supervision where your cultural experience had to be explained or defended, this is a different kind of space.

Supervision for Senior and Leadership Peer Roles

Peer workers moving into senior, advisory, or designated leadership roles face a particular set of challenges. The experience of being the lived experience voice at executive tables. The fatigue of representing while also doing. The question of how to hold authority without becoming co-opted. The loneliness of sitting above the peer workforce in a system that often has no peer leadership infrastructure above you.

External supervision becomes essential. My doctoral research focuses on organisational support mechanisms for lived and living experience leadership in mental health, and I supervise practitioners navigating these transitions. Supervision at this level tends to cover strategic and political positioning, managing expectations of the peer workforce and the broader organisation, maintaining values alignment under pressure, and the personal sustainability of leadership work that draws heavily on lived experience.

If your role draws primarily on lived and living experience in senior leadership, advisory, governance, consultancy, or research, the Online Lived Experience Leadership Supervision service is shaped specifically for that work.

Supervision for Peer Workers in Private Practice and Independent Services

A growing number of peer workers are establishing private practices, consultancies, and independent lived experience-led services. This is important and still underdeveloped territory in Australia, and the supervision needs are specific: business and ethical questions, navigating contracts and commissioning, maintaining peer workforce values while operating commercially, and the isolation of practice outside organisational structures.

I bring both peer practice experience and senior management experience, including founding LEXs as a lived experience-led practice, and I supervise a growing number of practitioners establishing their own independent work.

Fees and Booking

Single sessions and a prepaid package are available. This service is designed primarily for organisations commissioning supervision for their peer workforce, and for peer workers whose supervision is funded through schemes such as Victoria's Access to Supervision Project ($1,500 per worker per financial year). Individual peer workers self-funding can access supervision at the rates below.

Single sessions

• Peer Work Supervision, organisational rate (60 minutes): $200

• Peer Work Supervision, individual self-funding rate (60 minutes): $160

• Group Peer Work Supervision (90 minutes, minimum 2, maximum 6): $110 per participant

Prepaid package

• Organisational Supervision Package: 6 sessions × 60 minutes, prepaid, $1,140 (equivalent to $190 per session). Designed to fit within the Victorian Access to Supervision Project cap of $1,500 per worker per year. Available for organisational buyers and individuals whose supervision is funded through a scheme.

Group supervision is offered to teams and peer clusters who bring a pre-formed group. I do not assemble groups or match practitioners into them. The group's nominated payer (typically the buying organisation or one team member acting on behalf of the group) handles the booking and prepays the session. Single 90-minute sessions and sustained term block arrangements are both available. Contact me to discuss group composition, scheduling, and starting dates.

Package terms

• Prepaid in full at the time of booking

• Non-refundable

• Valid 12 months from first session

• Sessions not used within the validity window are forfeited

• Sessions are transferable to other LEXs supervision services at the supervisor's discretion if circumstances change materially

Written documentation of supervision can be provided to support workforce development records, employer requirements, or peer workforce credentialing.

What Peer Workers Say

"Michael creates a supervision space that feels safe, authentic, and deeply respectful. I feel heard, valued, and supported to grow both personally and professionally" Mental Health Peer Support Worker, VIC

"Group peer supervision with LEXs has been transformational. It helps me reconnect with my lived experience values when the system feels overwhelming" Carer Peer Worker, SA

"I always leave supervision with greater clarity, energy, and purpose. Michael's approach is grounded in human rights, hope, and real empathy" Lived/Living Experience Advocate, NSW

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between peer work supervision and clinical supervision?

Peer work supervision is discipline-specific. It attends to the particular ethics, risks, and wisdom of lived experience practice, including peer drift, the labour of disclosure, and the specific pressures on peer roles within clinical systems. Clinical supervision, however well-delivered, is built around a different discipline and often cannot fully meet peer workforce needs. Many peer workers benefit from peer-specific supervision in addition to any clinical or line management supervision they receive.

Can group peer supervision be arranged for my team or organisation?

Yes. Group peer work supervision is offered to teams and peer clusters who bring a pre-formed group of 2 to 6 participants; I do not assemble groups or match practitioners into them. The group's nominated payer (typically the buying organisation or one team member acting on behalf of the group) handles the booking and prepays the session. Single 90-minute sessions and sustained team or organisational supervision (custom term block) are both available. Contact me to discuss group composition, scheduling, and starting dates.

Does supervision count toward my professional development?

Yes. Supervision records can be provided to support peer workforce development documentation, organisational requirements, and any relevant credentialing. Specific requirements vary by employer and state; I can structure sessions to support whatever evidence you need.

Can my employer fund peer work supervision with LEXs?

Many organisations fund external peer work supervision for their workforce as part of workforce development. I am happy to provide documentation, invoicing, and written service agreements to support that arrangement. If you want to discuss this with your employer, reach out for a supervision proposal document.

Can supervision be tax deductible for peer workers in private practice?

For self-employed peer workers and consultants, professional supervision is generally tax-deductible as a work-related expense. Best confirmed with your accountant or the ATO for your specific situation.

How to Begin

Single sessions are available for organisational and individual self-funding buyers. A 6-session prepaid package is available for organisational buyers and peer workers whose supervision is funded through a scheme.