Meet Our Peer Workers

Our Peer Support Workers Across Melbourne

Our peer support workers bring authentic empathy and non-judgemental mentorship to participants across Melbourne's north-eastern and eastern suburbs. They are supervised and trained by professional psychologists to the highest standard in the industry for mental health and peer support workers.
We also support people with NDIS plans.

Our Team

Grounded in Lived Experience. Backed by Clinical Expertise.

Our support workers are rigorously vetted and personally matched to every participant, with only 1 in 650 applicants joining our team.
Every team member is fully qualified, background-checked, and guided by a registered psychologist as an ongoing mentor and trainer.You can trust that your support worker is safe and backed by expert support.

Daniel

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Daniel is a down to earth, peaceful, attentive and natural active listener with extensive experience in being a support worker. He believes firmly in letting you drive your own experience and is a constant learner. He has experience with a range of presentations including major depression, schizophrenia, social anxiety, intellectual disabilities, autism, ASD and PTSD. Like all our workers, Daniel has a deep rich lived experience with people close to him, that has given him a caring natural personality.

Michael

Psychologist & Mentor

"Hi i'm Michael. I'm a registered psychologist with approximately 8 years working within the mental health sector. I encourage authenticity, to enable people to feel comfortable enough to cut straight through the issue at hand."

Andrea

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Andrea is a Christian Lived Experience Support Worker, who has over ten years experience caring for a loved one in personal care and mental health support. She is an accomplished Philosopher and Theologian. This combination gives her a unique, sophisticated and grounded approach to support work.

Joshua

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Joshua's support style is grounded, relaxed and patient. Having been in professional mixed material art fights, he has the mindset to handle stressful situations, and ground those experiencing distress. He enjoys a good chat, along with taking his time and allowing for space for conversation and doesn't take himself too seriously despite his depth of experiences.

Maria

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Supporting people isn't just a job to me it's something I genuinely care about. My goal is to make a positive impact by building meaningful relationships, encouraging independence, and creating a safe, supportive environment where people feel respected, understood, and empowered.

Tia

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Tia's caring nature is the cornerstone to her support. Her positivity infects those around her distracting people from the worse things in life. Her constant learning approach means that she gets more informed every week that passes by.

Stephen

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Stephen is an older support worker with a deep life experience who motivates and relates to those around him.

Michael

Lived Experience Mental Health Support Worker

Michael specialities is in AOD, Skitzoeffective, cPTSD, Major Depression, Autism diagnosed participants. However, he has experience working with ABI's, Intellectual Disabilities, Mobility, BPD, and ADHD, and happy to connect if you resonanate.

Allison

Psychologist & Mentor

Allison is a qualified registered psychologist with over 10 years experience and 15 years experience in therapy. She provides strategic mentoring for each of our lived experience peer support workers to help them better understand and develop outcomes with each of their participants.

Harry

Lived Experience Social Worker

Harry believes in evidence based therapies and is an exceptionally hard worker, often going above and beyond to ensure that the participants he works with are safe.

Green heart shape formed by two hands shaking, symbolizing partnership or agreement.
Character Peer Matching

The magic is in understanding you and finding a personalised support worker who matches your lived experience and nature. We look for about 50 attributes when matching a support worker; some are listed below.

Discover Our Difference
Daniel
Michael
Andrea
Joshua
"Real support starts with someone who truly understands your journey."
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Hearts of Gold Traits

Our Lived Experience Workers

Daniel
Michael
Andrea
Joshua
"A friend is somebody who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."

Human

In an increasingly technological world, our support workers provide a down-to-earth human experience. A full human experience, in all its imperfections, vulnerability, joy and depth.

We meet you where you are at

Somebody that can meet you where you are at on any given day. It doesn't matter if it's a good day, or a bad day. We will be there regardless.

Champions agency

Somebody who can encourage your choice and control, despite what a support worker may think.

Authentic

Somebody who says what they mean, and means what they say. Somebody that is comfortable in their nature, and encourages you to be yourself.

Empathetic

Somebody who can relate to and understand what you might be feeling, but not assume they know exactly what you are going through.

Lived experience

Somebody who has had a profound lived experience in their own darkness and their own journey with mental illness.

No judgement

Somebody who radically accepts others, and does not make any judgements about people, their decisions, or information shared in confidence.

Respectful

Somebody who is respectful towards others, and does not step on other people’s toes. Somebody who respects your confidentiality and privacy.

Reliability

Somebody who can be depended on to be consistent, and on time, all the time.

Active listening

Somebody who can create space, and attentively listen, without being distracted.

Training

Builds upon their experience with training. They are also curious about new approaches and research into new areas when needed.

Patience

Somebody who can take their time and can calmly accept delays, problems and difficulties.

Taking Training Support Workers Seriously

Professional meets lived experience. Professional mentoring from psychologists and social workers married with peer support.

The purpose of this is to add another layer of training and support for support workers to become better. Not general information dumps you learn during a diploma. True 1-on-1 support and training, equipping support workers with the information, skills and techniques necessary to be better support workers for you.

Trust grows one step at a time

What Happens Next?

Daniel
Michael
Andrea
Joshua
"Real support starts with someone who can actively listen to your journey"
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1

A call on the phone

Have a chat, see what you need.
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2

Meet the director

Learn about you: what you like, don't like, what's working and what's not.
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3

Find your support worker

We recommend a peer support worker, or go and recruit somebody who matches what you need.
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4

Meet and greet

Meet the support worker, with the director present.
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5

Agree on shifts

If you like the support worker, we agree on an ongoing shift and/or flexible hours.
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6

Sign the service agreement

Once everyone is happy, we put the agreement in place.
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7

Build your team

Continue to build a team around the things you like, need, want and don't like.
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8

Keep everyone in the loop

Touch base with support coordinators and other stakeholders about progress and recommendations where necessary.
Clear Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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No corporate speak or clinical jargon—just real answers from people who get it.

What supports can psychosocial disability funding be used for?

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Depending on how your plan is written, funding can cover support workers, capacity building, community participation and assistance with daily living. Your plan or your plan manager can confirm what yours allows.

What is a peer support worker?

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A peer support worker is someone with their own lived experience of mental health challenges who supports others going through something similar. The role is built on shared experience rather than clinical training, though at Hearts of Gold our peer workers are mentored by psychologists and social workers.

Do you offer support for specific mental health conditions?

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Yes, all of our workers have distinct varying experiences with different conditions and are equipped to help support you.

How do I know if a support worker is right for me?

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To be honest, you are the one best to answer this. However, what has been reported to us is the best relationships take time, courage, and a shared understanding.

How do I choose the right support worker?

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We match you with a mental health support worker based on your specific concerns and preferences. You can also request a consultation to find the best fit.