Lived Experience Forum

[Boppa]

Hello SANE crew,

I love this space already and have only been here a short while 😊.

I am in my mid fifties and have lived with CPTSD since I was 17, I didn't even know what was wrong with me until I hit my 40's, and found my "best fit" therapist in my 50's! I'm still mastering my Internal Family System through my therapy but I finally feel hopeful that life will continue to be less painful and difficult as my "toolkit" of skills to manage dysregulation and all that surrounds it.

I have been high functioning throughout my journey and despite leaving my 7 schools education journey with not a qualification to my name, I have organised and promoted "rave" parties with up to 10,000 attendees, published recipe books, hosted a cooking segment on TV & currently run a >130 employee business with my wife. Sounds impressive on paper but as many others with CPTSD may relate to, perfectionism and over-achievement bring no solace.

I am now at a crossroads in my life as we will be selling our business mid 2025, so I have started thinking about what I really want to do with the rest of my life. After a lot of reading and investigating I want to do something related to helping younger folk who have lived through childhood trauma. I want to be someone I needed in my 20's, someone who can help others find a pathway to recovery and assist them on that journey.

I have found the Cert.IV in Mental Health Peer Support and now wonder whether this would be the best qualification to enable me to do this? I don't have the years it would take to get a degree in anything and besides I want a role where I am in direct contact with the person needing help. Have any of you done this course? What was it like? Is it the right course to do to get the work I would like? Are there better alternatives I should consider?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[hanami]

Hi @Boppa 

So great you're enjoying the space. It's so great to have you here too! I love 'seeing' new members join and you really do have a supportive nature and a lot to offer. It's amazing you are thinking what you want to do. I am almost the same age (54) and while I work here at SANE I also have a few other projects on the side...art therapy and writing. 

Anyways....your question I can also answer - YES I have done the course and know of others who have. I really loved it and it helped me get my first peer work role at NSW Health in the older persons community mental health service. At the other end of what you are wanting to do but I really found it both rewarding and challenging working with older people. I think it's a great idea that you do it. I did mine through the Mental Health Coordinating Council but you can do through TAFE too. I originally started mine through an RTO in WA but they were a bit suspect in my opinion. Just sort of in it for the money if you know what I mean. I'm glad I changed after not too long to MHCC. 

By doing the peer work cert it is assumed your own lived experience will be used in the workplace when supporting people. That can be a lot but I can sort of see that that wouldn't be an issue for you. You could also look at the Diploma of Mental Health without the peer work part as an option. There are also a lot of counselling courses around if you're interested in that path. I've seen a few jobs around that need youthworkers who have counselling expertise. 

Great to hear from you

Hanami

[Velvet_VanDetta]

Hi @Boppa I have tagged you in a thread that answers lots of questions around peer support work that may help you 😁

[Ilovepenguins]

Hey @Boppa,

What a massive and commendable career change you're looking at! 

I've been looking into the cert IV in mental health peer work as well, finding a provider in my area hasn't been easy as Tafe NSW currently only run it in Ourimbah I believe. @hanami I love your story about how you didn't feel right about the first provider and then appreciating your second provider. I had no idea that the MHCC had so many courses on offer 😍 Here's the link @Boppa for your consideration, https://mhcc.org.au/training/courses/

One other pathway of education in trauma that I've started and I've found to be incredibly informative, as well as validating with my own traumas, has been with The Centre for Healing, which is based in Victoria but run online. These courses and master classes were developed by 2 incredible young men who have extensive lived experience of their own 💚

[Boppa]

@Ilovepenguins thank you I am looking into MHCC now 🙂

[Boppa]

Thank you 🙂

[Boppa]

Hi @hanami and thank you for your support. I was looking at the Diploma in Mental Health as it seems to take the same amount of time as the Cert.IV courses. Would I still be able to do peer work with this diploma though?

[hanami]

Hi @Boppa 

You're welcome. Re your question about still being able to do peer work, I think it will just depend on the organisation. When I was at NSW Health in community mental health, my supervisor told me that the peer work cert was essential to get a job. You could be working towards it or have it. You could also do the Diploma in Mental Health and then just see if you can get credit towards the cert 4 peer work. I think a lot of the units overlap (not 100 percent sure of that so please don't take my word for it).

Hope that helps a bit

Hanami

[Boppa]

@hanamiit looks like I can RPL a Diploma in Community Services based on my work over the last 13 years so I will do the Cert.IV in Mental Health Peer work, this should make me quite employable in the mental health sector I hope.

[hanami]

That's awesome @Boppa!

Keep us updated with how it all goes for you.

Hanami