Lorna Downes

About me

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

I am enthusiastic about lived experience leadership, education and peer support. I believe that people with lived experience can radically help each other and transform the mental health system when provided with the right conditions and the power to do so.

My areas of special interest are family/carer workforce development, education, coproduction and codesign, research, young carers and trauma-informed practice.

I've lived in New Zealand, the UK, NSW, Victoria and now Western Australia in metropolitan, rural and remote areas and understand geographic and social isolation as a worker and as a human being.

I love the bush, lakes, rivers and ocean, the mountains, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, snorkelling, crochet and volunteering at my local Parkrun!


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 have more than 20 years’ experience working from a family/carer perspective in mental health, community services and workforce development organisations in the following designated lived experience roles:

• Carer Support and Education Officer
• Carer Support Coordinator
• Trainer/Assessor Cert IV Mental Health Peer Work
• Family/Carer Workforce Development Coordinator
• LLEW Program Coordinator
• Lived and living experience Workforces (LLEWs) instructional Designer
• Family/carer Perspective Supervisor
• family/carer researcher

Some of the projects I've worked on are:
• Not Before Time, Lived Experience-Led Justice and Repair report and website
• Rising Together Research Report
• Our Future Report
• Family/carer workforce strategy

I have lived experience as a foster carer, friend and family member providing support to young people and adults experiencing mental health challenges and addictions. I have lived experience as a young carer and remain especially passionate about the needs of children in families affected by trauma, mental distress and substance use.

My current role/work

Currently I am working part-time for CMHL as the Lived and living experience Workforces (LLEWs) instructional Designer, providing training design and delivery support to LLEW educators and hosting a community of practice to support mutual learning.
I also provide family/carer perspective supervision and mentoring to family/carer lived experience workers and I am working on family/carer LEW research projects.

My training

I was involved in the codesign of the Carer Perspective Supervision Framework and Carer Perspective Supervision Training

In addition I have completed the following relevant training:
Supervisor training
• Tools For Enhancing Clinical Supervision Outcomes, CMHL
• Trauma Informed Supervision Training, Foundation House
• Supervision, ACAP

Lived experience work
• CHC43515 Cert IV Mental Health Peer Work, MHCC, NSW
• Intentional Peer Support (IPS) 5 day core skills, IPS Advanced Skills, and IPS Trainer
• Emotional CPR
Coproduction and codesign
• Codesign essentials, TACSI
• Prototyping, TACSI
• Power and Coproduction, Athena Workforce Consulting

Training and group work
• Post-Grad Cert In Educational Design, Monash Online (Current)
• TAE40110 Cert IV Training and Assessment, MHCC, NSW
• Trainer and Assessor Mentoring Program, Velg
• Training And Presentation Skills, ACAP
• Groupwork skills, Uniting Care Burnside
• Telegroup Counselling Facilitator Training, Carers NSW

Leadership and Project management
• Project Management Fundamentals, CMHL
• Future Systems Leader, Safer Care Vic
• Leadership training, CCWT

Advocacy and Communication skills
• Non-violent Communication, Shari Elle
• Carer Advocacy, NSW Institute of Psychiatry
• Diploma Counselling and Communication, ACAP

Trauma
• Trauma Responsive Practice with Children, Australian Childhood Foundation
• Understanding and Responding to Trauma, MHCC
• Working with Survivors of Torture and Trauma, STARTT
• Narrative Therapy For Adult Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse, CCWT

My approach to supervision

My approach to supervision is grounded in the values and perspective of family/carer lived experience work, Intentional Peer Support, and Emotional CPR and by narrative practices.

I believe that the answers to most challenges in work and life are already within us therefore supervision ideally provides a space for the supervisee to be able to explore and reflect on what they already know and value as well as an opportunity to learn from others. In particular, there’s a special magic that occurs when family/carer perspective workers reflect together in the spirit of mutual learning that allows for cocreation of new understandings, knowledge and possibilities.