108 Bargara Rd
Bundaberg East, Qld, 4670
IMPACT Community Services Limited (IMPACT) is a high profile, community owned organisation supporting the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our community. Since 1978, we have been supporting local people experiencing disadvantage, poverty and exclusion. Our vision is improving lives. IMPACT is also a Child Safe Organisation committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
This isn’t just a job. This is a space where your lived experience is valued, your voice matters, and your story can support real change in the lives of others.
We are seeking Lived Experience Peer Workers to join the team at IMPACT Community Services, supporting individuals across Bundaberg and surrounding rural communities. This is a Full-time Fixed term position till 30th June 2027.
If you’re passionate about connection, recovery, and walking alongside, this might be your moment.
This role includes outreach to rural communities where access to support can be limited, offering a meaningful opportunity to make an impact where it is needed most.
To thrive in this role, you will bring a combination of lived experience, insight, and a genuine commitment to walking alongside others. This includes:
To find out more, view our position description and full list of staff benefits at Join Our Team - at HomePage - Impact Community Services
Submit your application today and provide your:
IMPACT welcomes all applications, including from Indigenous Australians, people with a lived experience of mental health concerns and recovery, a disability, those who identify as LGBTIQ+ and from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
We believe that diversity in our workplace makes us stronger and we provide equal opportunity to all. IMPACT is proud to be an INCLUSIVE EMPLOYER 2024-2025 with the Diversity Council Australia. Selection for all vacancies is made on the basis of merit.
The successful applicant will be required to obtain background checks prior to employment, including a Working with Children Check.
Recognising the crucial role of lived experience in mental health work, IMPACT Community Services has welcomed Lived/Living Experience Lead Missy Sands to strengthen the organisation’s capabilities in this evolving space.
Missy has begun the important work of implementing IMPACT’s very own lived experience framework, which will guide staff practice across the organisation's extensive peer support network. The focus is on embedding a consistent, values-driven approach to peer work while building the confidence and capability of the workforce.
Step one is training, with IMPACT’s team of peer support workers recently starting a six-week training program Missy put together to teach them the fundamentals of lived experience group work.
“They’re learning how to facilitate groups with the different dynamics, personalities and people in front of them,” Missy said. “Role play is going to be huge because we learn by doing.”
“We're going to have conversations with people that can be intense. They could be crisis conversations.
“We’re exploring how you navigate that so they’re safe and you’re safe, and when to escalate matters.”
She says someone with lived experience can’t walk straight into lived experience work, with confidence and skills taking years to hone.
“I remember feeling like an imposter at first. I didn’t feel comfortable doing the work until a good couple of years into it,” Missy said.
Nine years down the track on her lived experience peer work journey, Missy is embracing the chance to show her team the ropes. She couldn’t be more qualified for the challenge, having played an integral role in getting psychosocial peer group sessions off the ground in Queensland.
“When I was at Queensland Health, the peer recovery group was my baby. I started that group.
“Now it is mandatory, so I’m going to embed that, teach the peers how to deliver that and give them the methodology behind it so they understand that whole process.”
In addition to understanding the unique cohorts in each area that IMPACT serves, including Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Kingaroy, Missy says she’s focused on reaching those in underserviced rural areas.
“In Gayndah, Mundubbera and Eidsvold, they're not getting that much service because there are only a few peers and they're not in that area.
“We're trying to navigate how we can get some support that way, whether it's online through Microsoft Teams or us as a team going out there once a week or once a month.”
Core to peer support work is a strong passion, and Missy brings that wholeheartedly to her role. She said she’s a big believer in the peer way and its ability to improve lives.
“I take nothing away from the clinical side. We're all here for different parts of that person, but we all come together for the same reason, and that’s to support them.
“As peer workers, we make a big impact on somebody who is sitting in front of us and doesn’t know where to go or how to live independently.
“Giving that hope, motivation and empowerment is quite magical.”
It’s a reminder for all of us to pause and consider the power of genuine human connection, and how much hope can grow when someone simply walks beside another with understanding and care.
For more on IMPACT’s Group-Based Peer Recovery Support Program, visit https://impact.org.au/support-and-wellbeing/mental-health/mental-health-services/group-based-peer-recovery-support-program/
