Gill Maddern

About me

This supervisor has been approved to provide supervision under the
ACCESS TO SUPERVISION PROJECT.

As a parent/carer I have supported family members who have lived through a range of complex mental health challenges which led me on a journey of learning to love, live and adapt my career to one that would give me a wealth of satisfaction and meaningful contribution for the improvement of family support.

Over 20 plus years I have developed a holistic and creative approach to wellbeing and mental wellness. I have sought to better understand mental health challenges and their impact on families and carers, including the personal distress and have sought out education which aligns with my own personal values and pathways. After many years of working in the international corporate world, I trained extensively in complementary therapies and health and fitness, and then took time to complete a Masters in Therapeutic Arts Practice, where I developed my skills as part of a secondary school wellbeing team.

These experiences helped me understand that families need more support than was available and that lived/living experience was a wealth of knowledge and resource that was under used.

Supporting mental health outcomes for families/carers and users of services was where I started and now my passion is to support the workforce of carer peer workers to develop their own wellbeing, practice of peer work and the resilience required for this multi-faceted work.


This supervisor has been approved to provide supervision under the ACCESS TO SUPERVISION PROJECT. If you are a supervisee who has received an approval email/letter from the CMHL you may contact this supervisor for supervision for this project, then follow the stated processes for supervision payment.

My experience

I worked as a Family Peer Specialist at Alfred Child & Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS) for four years, starting out in the Neurodevelopmental program. As my experience grew I then included working with the Early Intervention Mobile Outreach Service and also took on some extra work at Headspace Bentleigh, which was a wonderful opportunity to work with families of the early psychosis program.

When COVID arrived my family peer work expanded into other areas of the service. I worked closely with clinicians and co-facilitated enhanced intake sessions, offering a brief intervention for families not requiring ongoing case management. In addition, I became the carer project lead in the core design team for co-production and implementation of the CY-Hope, suicide prevention program.

With the expansion of family peer services at CYMHS, I became Senior Family Peer Specialist and implemented an orientation and training program for a team of new family peer workers, providing individual discipline supervision and co-facilitated group supervision. I found my passion in education and professional development for the lived experience workforce.

My current role/work

I am currently Manager of Carer Peer Workforce Development at Alfred Mental & Addiction Health (AMAH). I support the education and development of the carer peer workforce across all of the service including, child & youth, adult & older adult and specialist services. My role includes discipline supervision and education for a large carer peer workforce, information and training around lived experience work and supporting the broader workforce to understand the importance and value of lived experience input at both an operational and systems level.

Additional I have developed inhouse training and workshops for carer and lived experience workers; in Resilience for Carer Peer Workforce, Boundaries, Sharing Lived Experience and Carer Reflective Practice. Most recently I developed and implemented a carer peer trainee 10 week pilot program to support an emerging workforce.

My training

Most relevant:
My training (most relevant)
Carer Perspective Supervision Training – Tandem/CMHL
Cert IV in Training, Assessment and Evaluation - Swinburne University
Intentional Peer Support – SHARC
Single Session Carer Peer Work – Bouverie
Group Reflective Practice Training – Bouverie
Peer to Peer Support Training and Psychological First Aid – Phoenix Australia
Compassion Labs Training – Compassion Revolution
Masters in Therapeutic Arts Practice

My approach to supervision

My approach is to provide a truly person-centred approach for lived experience workers looking to grow their understanding of carer peer practice and foster they’re own natural talents and ways of working within the structure of lived experience work. I have a strong focus on nurturing self-awareness and exploration in a safe and constructive co-reflective space. My experience of working in a variety of teams and across youth and adult services can help supervisees feel confident that my experience is relevant and provides understanding of the challenges in work and personal circumstances. I strongly believe that like peer work, the essence of supervision is to provide a space for open and brave discussion.