Peer Supervision
We piloted funded peer supervision for the suicide prevention Lived Experience workforce in Central and Eastern Sydney.
Funded peer supervision pilot
About the activity
One of the key priorities in the SPLEWDI Action Plan is to increase access to quality supervision for suicide prevention Lived Experience workers working in suicide prevention in Central and Eastern Sydney.
Together with our guiding coalition, we identified and engaged a skilled and experienced provider to deliver a pilot program of external peer supervision.
Through SPLEWDI, funded participation in peer supervision was made available to people working in Lived Experience roles in suicide prevention in Central and Eastern Sydney through a mix of 1:1 and group supervision activities.
Read the background paper
To help guide this activity, we first developed a Peer Workforce Supervision Background Paper. This document summarised contemporary peer supervision principles and practices. Reflecting relevant standards and grounded in core principles, it recognised that effective supervision should affirm the distinct discipline of peer work and provide a reflective space separate from direct management.
Read our Peer Workforce Supervision Background Paper to learn more about what helped to guide this activity.
What was delivered?
To help make quality peer supervision more accessible and more equitable for those working in the region, we offered time-limited, funded peer supervision support to Lived Experience workers — for some, this was the only peer supervision they were accessing while for others it offered a valued ‘external’ perspective to reflect on practice outside their organisation.
As a regional pilot, we used it as an opportunity to learn about ‘what works’ in delivering helpful and suitable peer supervision for people working in a suicide prevention context, and help inform future practice.
Activities were delivered flexibly through a range of modalities, including group and 1:1 formats and both online and ‘ in person’.
Participants were connected with skilled and experienced provider of peer supervision where they were able to build a trusted supervision relationship and make agreements. They then received regular funded peer supervision through 1:1 and/or group activities over several months, and shared their experiences and outcomes as part of our review of the pilot.
Participants were invited to apply through an expression-of-interest process that was shared widely in March-April 2025. EOIs have closed and all places have been allocated