supervision : lived experience perspective
Brook RED offers supervision for Lived Experience practitioners, people supervising peers, human service workers and peer workers in the mental health workforce.
Individual supervision provides a space and a process that encourages conversations and reflections about how we connect with others using our lived experience. You will be supported to reflect on your own values and how they intersect with lived experience workforce and organisational values. A Brook RED supervisor will support you to use your lived experience in different roles across health and community sectors. We will also share knowledge of working in a range of lived experience roles, offering our knowledge and perspective to assist you in finding your own solutions and strategies.
Group supervision is useful for smaller lived experience teams (2-10) and may involve sharing skills and knowledge amongst group members, discussing challenges and rewards of a particular program or lived experience work in general, and activities to support team relationships.
Lived Experience Communities of Practice (CoP) are for groups of 8 and over participants who gather to share best practices and create new knowledge to advance the lived experience workforce. Activities may include joint activities, information sharing, discussions and relationship building. Brook RED is experienced in establishing and facilitating Communities of Practice for the lived experience workforce.
To discuss your team's supervision needs, please email supervision@brookred.org.au
Cost for individual supervision : $132 (GST inc) for 50 minute session
Cost for group supervision : $264 (GST inc) for 70 minute session, for up to 7 team members.
Please contact us to discuss your team’s needs.
Meet our Lived Experience Supervisors
Emma Faulkner (She/Her) PLEASE NOTE: Emma is only available on Wednesdays and for online sessions
BSocSc(Psych) | PGradDipSexology | Masters of Counselling
My approach to supervision
My passion for supervision is born out of the curiosity for the human experience and how we relate to the world around us. Supervision is a guiding light in our practice when we felt lost, overwhelmed or ready to challenge and grow our skills. It is important to be able to talk about how our lived experience is influencing our work and how we want to offer our lived experience to others. Supervision has allowed me to feel more comfortable and confident in my work, and aim to offer this to the people I work with.
Supervision is a space for humans to unpack and explore all things work and life in our work. It is a space for supervisees to reflect on themselves and create a framework of practice that is genuine and unique to them, that values the lived experience perspective. I am passionate about deep conversations and aim to create a space of curiosity to unpack how our lived experience is guiding our values and how it guides how we as individuals offer support. I aim to understand how this shapes our perceptions of mental health and what are the key message lived experience workers want to teach the people they work with. Supervision is a space to feel heard and understood, particularly in a world where change is vital for human experience and growth.
About me
I have been working in the Brook RED Highgate Hill community mental health centre for over 6 years as a peer worker, running groups and connecting with individuals and communities around mental health and recovery. During this time, I have also been practicing as the Senior Peer Worker, which has allowed me to create change within community, and influence a work force of peer workers who are passionate about creating change, embracing conversations about recovery and using their lived experience to guide principals of practice. I have also created and delivered training about our personal stories and how we can share them with purpose and intent. I am also currently working as a lived experience counsellor and supervisor in the mental health space.
Eddie Holmes (He/Him)
BSC | BPSC(Hon) | Master of Counselling (UQ)
My approach to supervision:
My approach to supervision is to first create a space that is energising, and safe to just be ourselves. Often through touching base with what we uniquely bring to our peer roles, and why it might be important to us in the first place. Across all of my roles I value authentic curiosity, the lightness and grounding of our shared humour, and the desire to keep changing and growing.
I always love to provide a space to sit with and talk with all the emotions that drive us while in our peer roles. Keeping it okay to not have all the answers, and with the understanding of how peer work can be truly difficult at times. Ultimately aiming to help find that flexibility in ourselves to navigate the complexity of needs between the role, the people we are supporting, and ourselves.
About me:
Passionate to continue making the mental health sector more about the people in it than the idealised or imposed ideas that come from without.
I love getting to know what is truly important for everyone when they come into a lived experienced role. Connecting into the place and the people we work with in a way that makes it truly meaningful, and promotes all of us having a better life.
Over the past 7 years, I’ve been a peer worker primarily based in community centre work with a focus on the value of great one-on-one support. Recently extending into counselling and therapy that is informed by the experience and core tenets of peer work.
Kate O'Keefe (She/Her)
kateo@brookred.org.au
My approach to supervision
I believe the purpose of supervision is to step back and reflect on our work in a curious space free of judgment. Creating an environment where we can explore the unique joys and challenges of working from our lived experiences is of the utmost importance. I believe in challenging from a place that’s compassionate, safe and supportive and has your best interests at heart.
My lived experience of mental health/illness/big feelings and neurodivergence allows me to be very comfortable with a range of emotions and frustrations related to life and work. The pressures of being a human and working in intensely human work has led to more than one life pause and re-evaluation, so I am very interested in supporting others to look after themselves in the intensely personal work we do.
My values that align with my approach to supervision are curiosity, creativity, authenticity, community, and responsibility. I love learning, and I love learning from and with others. I am interested in working with people who are at the beginning of their career and those who’ve worked with their lived experience for many years.
About me
I have worked in the mental health sector for over 16 years, in consumer consultant and service integration roles within clinical mental health services with Queensland Health and in project, training and group facilitation roles in community mental health services. I have experience in providing practice reflection and supervision for individuals and groups.
I have 2 kids, one cat and 2 chickens. In my quiet time, I love to look at the water, wander around the library, read, sew, get creative and look at birds.
I am very interested in how people are looking after themselves in this soul-baring, tough-experience- reliving, brick-wall-head-beating, bureaucratically infuriating yet delightful work. And having worked in some of those systems, I am so invested in keeping us thriving to continue on in these vital roles!
Erin O'Shea (She/Her)
My approach to supervision
My approach to supervision is to provide a space for both supervisee and supervisor to be vulnerable and sometimes messy and not have all the answers. The values I hold as a supervisor are authenticity, curiosity, mutuality, and bringing a sense of humour and fun to the relationship.
About me
I am an experienced peer worker who is interested in providing mutual and authentic support to my fellow peer workers. My favourite thing about peer work is being able to provide a connection and understanding for people who are going through a system that is rife with disconnection and misunderstanding. I aim to bring this approach to supervision.
I have been a peer worker for 12 years at Brook RED, across roles including centre based peer worker, senior peer worker, centre coordinator and workshop facilitator. My current role involves community based one on one peer support with people in suicidal distress.
