About the Certificate IV of MH Peer Work

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@AuntGlow wrote:

I encourage you to chat with your teachers about slow, incremental steps towards supporting people in-person or via the phone eventually as well (only if it feels safe, of course), I think you might surprise yourself with how much you are able to offer exactly as you are. 💛

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@AuntGlow ehh idk, from my experiences so far with trying things that have anything to do with having to talk to people verbally - i would likely say that that's less likely going to happen lol. there's no way i'm gonna be able to get anywhere near that.

That's okay! You know yourself the best and I trust that you will do what is right for you - I appreciate your honesty and reflections. I really hope your school will work something out for you. 💛 @Blackcloud

@AuntGlow I doubt that they’ll be able to do anything much considering that face to face interactions with clients is a requirement in the placements. So I guess as of right now the only thing I can only focus on and worry about is the bachelor degree I’m about to be doing soon, which I aim to complete/finish it with..

Hey @HelloKitty1981 ! Great to hear from you! When do you finish your cert? Are there only 2 semesters?

I think it's only 2 semesters but most of my group will be doing their placements hours at the end of the course.
Was a bit bummed I can't do placement with NSW Health, they don't seem to be taking students.

Hi Tyme

It went over almost the entire year, most of my class have already finished but our coordinator left the placements till the third term and there was quite a few of us that have had to do the mad scramble and look for new placements to be able to finish the course this year!

My placement was meant to be with Neami on the Central Coast but myself and another student ended up getting ghosted by the manager in late November so its been stressful and I have a new placement I can already see I am not going to get the same out of it has I been able to do placement with Neami unfortunately.

The staff are lovely but one on one time with clients really isnt there the way I needed or expected for placement. Has'nt made doing my assessment and wellbeing plan easy but think others in my class had similar issues with their placements too.

Since they are closed over Xmas will not finish this year but mid January 2026. Have 4 shifts to go.

Tossing up whether to go on and do the Diploma as its online based, not face to face unless I travel down to Mount Druit twice a week and that's about a 3 hour trip one way, and you really need to be working in the industry.

So that's where I am at with things, would be nice to be getting some paid work, even part time to make all this study worth it.

Hi @HelloKitty1981 how are you going with the Cert 4 of Mental Health Peer Work course? Did you complete it? And how have the placements been?

I’ve made an application enrolment for one just less than 2 weeks ago, and I’ve passed all of the pre-training review stuff, and now I’m about to have a 1:1 meeting with the teacher that teaches the course via MS teams this upcoming week.

here in Victoria, I was planning on applying for the course within 2 different universities that offer it but neither of them are doing this semester’s intakes. Was going to apply for it at a TAFE institute that currently offers it but apparently there’s a lot of bad reviews about that institution, so I applied for the course via a TAFE institution located in regional Victoria (even though I’m in metro Melbourne) but the course will be online which is what I like! The only cons to it though is that they offer 160 hours of placements which seems a lot, compared to every other institutions that offer 80 hours for the same course…

was also told by the owner/supervisor of the (mental health peer led based) organisation I currently volunteer at that I too plan on sourcing my placements with that with 160 hours, there could or might be times where I may need/have to do placements at more than one organisation? But I really hope that’s not the case to be honest… just sucks how it’s 160 hours instead of the standard 80..

@Oaktree @MJG017 @AuntGlow @Jynx @AlwaysMyself

Hi @Blackcloud

Hey I have indeed finished my Certificate IV in Peer Work through NSW TAFE. I did my placement over the Xmas period which wasnt the original plan but my first placement I actually wanted to do with Neami as I know placement is important and can get your foot in the door post placement and making industry contacts. Unfortunately had a meeting with one of their locations further away from where I am based yet was prepared to put in the time, effort and cost to travel back and forth for placement. I and another person from my class met the Manager only to get the paperwork and then have them completely ghost me but also TAFE, this was in November heading into Dec 2025 and so it was a mad scramble trying to find someone else so late in the year to take me on.

They did but I would be the first student my campus would be sending. Fast forward I did my 80 hours but would have liked to have done 160 instead. I have done that before on different cert 4 and had 2 different host companies.

My experience ended up doin more admin that actual shadowing a fellow peer, so my experience wasnt great.

As for the course itself I can really come down to what modules they offer at that campus and the teachers. There are definately modules that I felt needed to be added to the course to give a better understanding and depth similar to what u find in the Cert 4 community services.

Overall I still have found the original program I did here with SANE the best in depth, teaching, learning and course material.

However my experience will not be the same for everyone, given this is my 4th certificate with studying at TAFE in general.

A lot of places want the certificate hence why I got it to show I have actual accreditation more than anything.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for sharing that with me @HelloKitty1981 it’s interesting to hear how people’s experiences are different when it comes to placements.

Also, if you don’t mind me asking, could I know what that program you did at SANE is called? ☺️

I know there’s a user that has done their placements in the forums here as a Peer Guide for their cert iv in mental health peer work. Was sorta thinking of that but I did ask thyme via email last time and they said that it’s not a guarantee that the forums would be posting an announcement regarding placements at anytime this year.

gladly, there’s one organisation (same one I currently volunteer) that I plan to source my placements with. I personally find 160 hours of placements (instead of the standard 80 hours) pretty ridiculous but that’s just me really.