This is where we share what we’re learning, where we’ve been, and where we’re heading. Whether it’s a local event, national summit, or the quiet work happening behind the scenes, you’ll find it here.
The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance, in partnership with the Indigenous Australian Lived Experience Centre (IALEC) and Mental Health Carers Australia (MHCA), has announced the establishment of the Australian Association of Peer Workers (AAPW).
Supported by Australian Government seed funding, the new peer-led national body will represent mental health, suicide prevention, family/carer/kin and First Nations peer workers across Australia.
The Association will focus on strengthening workforce development, national standards, training pathways, supervision frameworks, advocacy, and culturally safe First Nations-led approaches to peer work.
As a founding partner, IALEC is committed to ensuring First Nations lived-experience voices remain central to shaping the future of peer work nationally through strong, respectful and collaborative leadership.
IALEC has released the first national suicide prevention priorities paper developed entirely through a First Nations lived experience lens. Co-authored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with lived experience of suicide, distress, loss and healing, the paper calls for culturally grounded, community-led approaches and stronger lived experience leadership across suicide prevention systems and services.
Read our latest Priorities Paper from the National Indigenous Lived Experience Group (NILEG) outlining the changes needed to strengthen suicide prevention and social and emotional wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We acknowledge all Traditional Custodians of this vast and diverse continent now known as ‘Australia’. We honour the Ancestors, Elders, and Knowledge Holders who have cared for Country, its ecosystems, waterways, skies, and cosmos since the beginning of time. Their connection to Country is sovereign and enduring, and will forever remain unchanged by the impacts of colonisation.
We want to acknowledge First Nations Lived Experience. For First Nations Peoples, experiences of living have been passed down for thousands and thousands of years. It is how we survive, thrive, care for each other and Country. Our experiences are the foundation of relationships, of knowledge, that we carry in our Spirit. We acknowledge all lived experiences of First Nations Peoples that are brought to this work, and recognise the power and impact these experiences have on creating meaningful and impactful change for our Communities.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
