Australian Association of Peer Workers
(for peer workers in mental health and suicide prevention)
1. What is the Association?
It will be a national, peer-led professional body for mental health and suicide prevention peer workers in both peer support and other designated lived experience (peer) roles. Its purpose is to strengthen recognition, rights, standards and working conditions for peer workers across Australia.
2. Why is it being created?
Peer workers asked Government for a strong national body that protects the fidelity of peer work, supports safe workplaces, and gives the peer workforce a united voice in national reform. The Association is being established to achieve these goals.
3. How much funding has been provided?
The Australian Government has committed $4.78M (including GST) from 31 March 2026 to 31 December 2028. This is one-off seed funding to establish and initially operate the Association. Options for long-term sustainability will be developed during this period.
4. What will the funding be used for?
The funding will support:• Establishment of the Association• A peer-led leadership team• Peer-led governance arrangements for the Association• Membership development• A national training plan• A supervision and quality framework• National workplace standards for the peer workforce • A career pathway resource• An advice and referral line for peer workers
5. What issues will the Association focus on?
The intended outcomes from the Commonwealth grant are: • developing the role definitions for peer workers, considering specific roles for mental health peer workers, and suicide prevention peer workers• developing a national supervision framework • defining career pathways for peer workers • developing national training pathways for peer workers • developing workplace safety standards for peer workers • increasing awareness of the peer worker roles (including the reduction of stigma)supporting best practice in training and supervising peer workers.
6. When will the Association start operating?
The goal is for the Association to be operational by 1 August 2026, with establishment work commencing from 31 March 2026.
7. Who is leading the establishment?
Peer workers will lead the Association. This will commence with a Leadership Team, all of whom will be peer workers. The Leadership Team will be headed by a General Manager, and include a designated First Nations position.
The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance is facilitating establishment, in partnership with the Indigenous Australian Lived Experience Centre (IALEC) and Mental Health Carers Australia (MHCA).
The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance is facilitating establishment, in partnership with the Indigenous Australian Lived Experience Centre (IALEC) and Mental Health Carers Australia (MHCA).
8. Will the Association be peer-led?
Yes. Leadership roles, governance design and membership structures are centred on peer workers. The Leadership Team will include consumers, family/carer/kin and suicide prevention peer workers. The goal is to establish a member-driven, democratic organisation.
9. Who can become a member?
Membership will be open to:• Current peer workers (permanent, casual, contract or consulting roles)• People studying to become peer workers• Former peer workers intending to return• Peer worker alumni
There will also be a “friends of” category. This enables allies who are not lived experience (peer) workers to participate in some areas of the organisation. Volunteers who are supporting peers will be able to join as friends.
10. What are the benefits of membership?
Members will have: • Opportunities to contribute to the work of the Association, strengthening recognition and rights for peer workers and developing workplace standards. • The ability to nominate and/or vote for the Association’s governing board (when the Association transitions to stand-alone governance) • Access to resources to support innovative and best practice approaches in peer support, supervision and lived experience leadership • Access to a peer worker advice and referral line
11. Does peer work include family/carer/kin and suicide prevention roles?
Yes. The Association includes:• Consumer peer workers• Family, carer and kin peer workers• Suicide prevention peer workers
All are included within the lived experience (peer) workforces. The Association is open to people in mental health and suicide prevention lived experience (peer) roles across all sectors.
All are included within the lived experience (peer) workforces. The Association is open to people in mental health and suicide prevention lived experience (peer) roles across all sectors.
12. Will there be an advice and referral line?
Yes. A national advice and referral line is planned to support peer workers with concerns arising from their individual roles, and concerns about systemic issues facing peer workers more broadly. This will be available via phone during set hours, and online, once the Association becomes fully operational.
13. How will governance work at the start?
The Association will begin as a distinct business unit within the Alliance. A 100% peer worker Leadership Team will run day-to-day operations. Governance will initially be provided by the Alliance and will transition through a staged pathway toward a stand-alone member-elected model.
14. When will the Association become fully independent?
An independent sustainability assessment will be conducted during the grant period. A decision about becoming a stand-alone legal entity will follow that assessment and member input.
15. How will peer workers shape the Association?
Peer workers will be involved:• Working at the Association, in all positions• As members of the Association, including communicating with the Leadership Team about specific and emerging concerns impacting peer workers • In national co-design initiatives across Association work streams • In specialist advisory groups• Via feedback and complaints processes• As users of the advice and referral line (ARL)• In governance, as these arrangements develop.
16. What are the key priorities common to all peer workforces the Association will be representing[DB1.1]I ?
Peer workers have consistently stated over many years that their priorities are: • Improving organisational support and leadership for peer work• Eliminating stigma and discrimination in the workforce • Improving psychological safety in the workplace • Increasing access to quality peer supervision• Achieving clarity and consistence in peer work role delineation and boundaries• Increasing access to quality training • Improving the pay and conditions for peer workers • Achieving greater awareness, recognition and respect for peer work within the mental health system, as distinct from clinical services.
The Association will be addressing these priorities, within the framework of the Commonwealth grant.
The Association will be addressing these priorities, within the framework of the Commonwealth grant.
17. What are distinct priorities for the suicide prevention peer workforce?
The Association recognises that suicide prevention peer work is a distinct specialisation. Specific priorities for suicide peer workers will include: • Achieving national consistency and clarity in defining the role of suicide prevention peer workers, as distinct from mental health consumers and carer peer work• Developing suitable training pathways, specific to suicide prevention peer work• Developing role specific supervision frameworks
The Association Leadership Team, which will include a suicide prevention peer worker, will be tasked with addressing these priorities across work streams, and in the governance of the Association.
The Association Leadership Team, which will include a suicide prevention peer worker, will be tasked with addressing these priorities across work streams, and in the governance of the Association.
18. What is the Project Delivery Management Committee?
It is a delivery oversight group involving the Alliance, IALEC and MHCA. It supports the Association’s contract management and coordination.
19. What is the Jurisdictional Coordination Group?
It is a forum bringing together State and Territory stakeholders (such as service provider peak bodies) to support the Association with national consistency and local implementation.
20. What is the Employer and Training Provider Liaison Group?
It is a forum of employers and training providers that will work to help ensure Association initiatives are implemented across workplaces (including government and non-government providers) and in peer worker training and education.
21. How will First Nations peer workers be supported?
A First Nations Peer Workforce Development Strategy will be embedded across all workstreams, with leadership and cultural authority supported through IALEC. A First Nations peer worker will be a member of the Leadership Team.
22. Will the Association help set workplace standards?
The Association will develop a National Workplace Standards framework to promote ethical, safe and effective employment of peer workers across settings.
23. Will membership cost money?
In the first year of the Association, membership will be free. Over time, a sustainable membership model will be developed. Fees are expected to be affordable, with concessions available. The aim is accessibility and value.
24. Why does this matter for peer workers?
A national association strengthens the collective voice and leadership of peer workers. It supports safer workplaces, clearer career pathways, stronger professional identity, national recognition of lived expertise, and rights-based outcomes for consumers, and their families/carers/kin.
25. How can I keep informed about the development of the Association
A mailing list has been set up ( ) where you can sign up for regular updates of the Association.