Bringing lived experience to alcohol and other drug work
Across alcohol and other drug services, lived experience is common. Around 65% of workers in the sector report having lived experience, about half of whom have personal experience.
But for something so widespread, it doesn’t always get openly talked about, especially when it comes to how it affects your daily work.
Some people are in designated peer roles, where lived and living experience is part of the job description. Others are in counselling, support, or clinical roles, where it’s not necessarily named but still plays a part.
Either way, balancing your own lived experience with the expectations of a professional setting can get complicated.
Research highlights a range of benefits that lived experience brings to service settings. Workers with lived experience often improve client engagement, build trust, and foster service environments where people feel less judged and more at ease. Worker and client relationships are often associated with greater openness, increased feelings of safety, and stronger therapeutic connection.
But alongside these benefits are some very real challenges.
Workers with lived experience face emotional demands that may be distinct from those experienced by colleagues without lived experience. Supporting clients through trauma, social hardship, or loss can impact workers at a deeper level, as can exposure to environments and situations related to alcohol and other drug use.
At times, the boundaries between personal and professional become blurred and workers with lived experience negotiate them as best they can. Revisiting past experiences in the context of supporting others can be emotionally taxing, and the line between being at work and off duty can start to dissolve. Some workers report feeling perpetually ‘on,’ even outside work hours.
There’s also the challenge of navigating identity within the workplace. Workers with lived experience have reported feeling that their professional skills and broader knowledge are sometimes overlooked in favour of a narrow focus on their alcohol and other drug use history.
It can be challenging and isolating to navigate these tensions without structured support or opportunities for reflection. This is particularly true for those not working in dedicated peer roles, who may be drawing on lived experience in subtle or informal ways without clear guidance.
With 30 years of experience balancing her own lived experience with clinical support work, our expert Dr Amanda Davies understands these complexities all too well.
With our brand new Lived Experience in Professional Practice workshop, developed and facilitated by Dr Amanda Davies, you’ll learn how you can negotiate the personal and professional in ways that support client outcomes.
Walk away with useful insights and practical strategies that you can implement immediately:
- Improve skills and confidence in blending lived experience and practice experience
- Build knowledge about boundaries, including decision making about sharing your lived experience
- Increase self care practice including understanding triggers and requesting what you need in the workplace
Learn more or book your place in Lived Experience in Professional Practice.
