Empowering Lived Experience - One Day Training

Empowering Lived Experience – One Day Training

This one-day training is an informative and reflective space to learn skills and gain confidence in creating a truly collaborative and respectful team culture, relationships between lived experience/peer work roles, and clinical/management or welfare and support roles.

Those in lived experience, clinical, management and support roles are all encouraged to attend!

Within the space, power dynamics will be named and acknowledged to create a safer space for all. The training will amplify lived experience voices while aiming to create a collaborative space for all attendees.

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Informed by current evidence, as well as our own extensive experience and learning (both from a clinician and management perspective, as well as a peer work/lived experience perspective), you’ll walk away with:

• A framework for the creation of clear, meaningful and well-defined peer work’ lived experience roles, and how they function in a team.
• Exploration into what contributes to safe workplaces for lived experience staff.

• A fresh lens on how lived experience enriches services, teams, and outcomes, along with increased confidence and clarity on how to nurture positive, respectful partnerships between lived experience and clinical roles.

• Tips and tricks for onboarding processes, building positive relationships, cultivating safety at work and overcoming tough spots.

• Advocacy skills for amplifying lived experience voices, both as a lived experience worker and for non-lived experience workers.

• Exploring the weight of working in traumatic settings with lived experience. Self-care strategies and processes for lived experience workers and embedding practices/procedures into the workplace systems.

• A deeper awareness of power + privilege – how to navigate this within team dynamics and how to work with them instead of around them.

• A Pocket Facilitation method to guide tricky conversations between team members.

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You'll be guided by multidisciplinary trainers in Social Work, Peer Work, and Occupational Therapy – who bring many years of experience across clinical, community, and lived experience settings, and a deep commitment to meaningfully bridging their expertise in practice.

Whether you’re just starting to explore lived experience partnerships or already working side by side, you’ll leave with fresh insights, practical tools, and a clearer understanding of what genuine, values-aligned teamwork looks like.

This workshop is ideal for both peer workers/those in lived experience roles, as well as managers/clinicians/welfare workers within community, health and/or clinical settings. Past workshops have seen attendees from peer work backgrounds, clinical services, private psychology/counselling, inpatient settings in mental health and AOD, those running supports groups, trainers and educators, those in forensic settings, people in tertiary or primary mental health services – we really welcome all backgrounds and disciplines.

Catering is included, please specify dietary requirements.

We will also ensure time is available to network and meet peers working in similar settings.

There are a small number of discounted places for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attendees, students, or those working in designated lived experience roles. Please reach out directly if financial constraints are a barrier.

Yarraville Community Centre has lifts available, low sensory spaces and gender inclusive bathrooms. We welcome you to get in touch with any additional accessibility needs.

Want to get in touch?

info@pocketfacilitation.com.au

www.pocketfacilitation.com.au

Who are we?

Pocket Facilitation offers training, consultancy and reflective group spaces for professionals working in the mental health and drug and alcohol sectors. We are Judy Riley (she / her) and Georgia Einfeld (she / her), a Social Worker and an Occupational Therapist who specialise in group work, education and reflective practice. Additionally, we have had extensive training and experience in group facilitation, risk management, mental health, alcohol and other drugs, trauma, sexology, working with lived experience and neurodiversity. This training will also include a co-facilitator in a designated peer work role in a health setting, with extensive experience as both a client of health services, as well as a staff member.

With collectively over 20 years of experience in both clinical and community settings, we pride ourselves in the creation of useful, evidence based and inclusive groups, and foster other professionals to build confidence to do the same. We believe in the power of combining clinical expertise with the human element of facilitation (warmth, self-awareness and an ability to ‘read the room’), and believe that people from all backgrounds and stages of recovery have something important and valuable to contribute.

We live and work on the traditional land of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples and are GLBTQIA+ informed.

Some feedback from recent Group Facilitation workshops:

"Just wanted to say a big thank you for such a fantastic training day. Pocket Facilitation was honestly one of the best facilitation courses I’ve been to; engaging, energising, and packed with practical ideas. It was such a fun day, and I walked away with a lot of fresh thinking, even on things we already do." (Participant at our July 2025 workshop)

"Just wanted to reach out to let you know how awesome training was on Friday. You have both truly created something beautiful, this has been the most impactful training I have been a part of." (Participant at our July 2025 workshop)

Cancellation Policy

We know circumstances change, however unfortunately if you register and are unable to attend we can not offer a refund. If there is cancellation by the event organiser, you will be fully refunded.