Youth Individual Placement and Support Centre of Excellence

IPS and vocational peer work

Youth vocational peer workers work collaboratively with the IPS vocational specialists to provide emotional and social support to young people in the program. They do this from the perspective of a peer with lived experience of mental ill-health, incorporating their own experiences of work and/or study.

Youth vocational peer workers can support young people experiencing mental ill-health to develop employability skills such as workplace communication, interpersonal and teamwork skills. They bring a unique understanding of challenges experienced by young people with mental ill-health looking for and engaging in work, such as how to navigate disclosure of mental ill-health to employers or developing strategies with young people to manage their mental health when balancing work and study.