The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System recommended that the system should be led, designed and delivered by people with lived and living experience.
To support this, the Department of Health is funding grants in 2025 for Lived and Living Experience Workers (LLEW) in state-funded mental health, AOD, and harm reduction services. These grants are being administered by Mental Health Victoria and are open until midnight, Friday 29 November 2024.
Purpose and scope
These grants are to fund professional development for consumer and family, carer and supporter LLEW to support leadership, education and training capabilities. Depending on the course or development opportunity, each grant can be valued up to $5,000. You are encouraged to apply for training and development that suits your current capabilities, career goals and interests. Approximately 90 grants are expected to be awarded, depending on the value of the courses being supported.
There are two categories of grants:
Lived and Living Experience Educator Grants
- These grants are intended for people working in Lived and Living Experience (LLE) Educator positions, from a consumer or family, carer or supporter perspective.
- There are a range of positions which may be considered LLE Educator positions, including those who train LLE workforces, who train staff on the role of LLEW in the mental health sector and more.
- The purpose of these grants is to support LLEW that have education and/or training responsibilities to grow their skills and capabilities.
Lived and Living Experience Workforce Development Grants
- These grants are intended for people working in designated LLE roles from a consumer or family, carer or supporter perspective in the mental health and wellbeing or AOD sectors. This includes those working in leadership roles, peer worker roles and more.
- The purpose of these grants is to provide support for the LLE workforce to develop skills and capabilities, including leadership skills.
- This grant excludes people in LLE Educator roles, who are covered by the LLE Educator Grants above.
Please note that MHV can only accept one application per person for each grant type.
Supporting diversity, equity and inclusion
We strongly encourage Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people to apply, as well as people bringing intersectional perspectives, including those from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds, people from LGBTIQA+ communities, people with disability, and people from rural and remote communities. Applications from people identifying as such will be prioritised.
Guidelines
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To be eligible, applicants must be in a designated LLE Workforce role or primarily work from an LLE perspective, be currently employed at a Victorian Government-funded mental health, AOD or harm reduction service.
Please ensure you indicate your role, and submit evidence of enrolment and payment, as part of your application. You will also need to provide a letter of recommendation from your line manager and/or lived/living experience senior (if relevant), confirming the length of your work in the sector and how the workplace will support you, the applicant.
For more detail on the grants visit the MHV .
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Below are some potential course options. These recommendations are based on previous grant recipient choices and are not limited to the list below:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- Certificate IV in Human Resource Management
- Certificate IV in Project Management
- Lived Experience Training, Dr. Louise Byrne
- Advanced Group Work Facilitation
- Specialised training in professional practice supervision
- Specialised training in use of Collaboration and design programs
- Open Dialogue training
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These grants are being administered by MHV on behalf of the department.
Reviewed 08 November 2024