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

Hey, I’m Ruben (he/they). I build my perspective from my identities as a neurodivergent trans person, with a focus on centering resistance through joy, and liberation through community. My core values are passion, authenticity, and honesty, and I aim to weave these through my life in both a personal and professional sense.

My journey with the mental health system has spanned a good portion of my life. What I like to consider my ‘informal peer studies’, have seen me engage with outpatient services, as well as inpatient, hospital emergency, youth services, housing services, phone lines, and group programs (both peer led, and clinical). My formative years were spent on a large property out in country WA, learning a love and connection for the natural world, which at one point pulled me towards studying wildlife conservation. I moved to Boorloo/Perth as a teenager, and then to Naarm/Melbourne at the tail end of 2023. Home to me is sitting on the couch playing video games (I have a particular love of indie horror), hanging out with my two partners and my adorable dog.

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.

I stumbled into peer work through being encouraged to take part in a co-design in 2019. This was run by a Lived Experience worker, and I began to learn the power of using my story as a tool for change, and system reform. Since then, my experiences have expanded to include:

• LGBTIQA+ Specialist peer work at a Mental Health and Wellbeing Local.
• Resource development and research for trans and gender diverse support and service navigation.
• Peer support work through phone-based service navigation and hospital emergency departments.
• Lived Experience Consultation through various advisory committees and working groups.
• Panels and presentations, underpinned by training in both Lived Experience and LGBTIQA+ speaking programs.

I am currently employed as a Senior Consumer Consultant, providing Lived Experience guidance and perspective on policy work and resources. My role has a heavy focus on systemic advocacy and continuous service improvement, which I approach with a determination for seeing services work in ways that are Lived Experience informed beyond surface level. I combine my systems knowledge, and connection to the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement, with the experiences of those actually using these services. This last part is vital to me, and I stay connected to community through chairing the advisory group, through involvement with groups, and through direct consultation with people using the service.

I am also a current member of: -MindOut's Peer Expert Advisory Group, a program run by LGBTIQ+ Health Australia supporting mental health and suicide prevention across queer community throughout Australia. -Optimise+ Community Advisory Group, tasked with providing a peer lens to a research initiative at La Trobe University focusing on the work of community-controlled LGBTIQA+ mental health and AOD organisations.

• Intentional Peer Support (IPS) Training: Core and Advanced
• Consumer Perspective Supervision Training
• Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work
• Alt2Su Training
• Hearing Voices Approach Training
• Emotional CPR (eCPR) Training
• Lived Experience Speaker Training
• Telling it with Pride Speakers (TiPS) Program

I approach my own practice with the intent of unpacking the impacts of marginalisation and systemic oppression, and tend to vibe the best when having big conversations navigating the complicated nature of working in systems that are often not designed for us.

I’m happy to work with anyone who feels drawn to my style of supervision to create a space where we are able to share knowledge and learning amongst each other, and to foster a deeper connection to how each of us do ‘peer’. I tend to be quite malleable, and am very willing to allow a supervisee to take the lead on what they would like from our sessions. As a neurodivergent person, I also understand that going off the cuff is not going to work for everyone. I’m able to bring in a structured format that we can go from, and adjust or restructure as needed.

Accessibility is paramount, so let me know what you need to be able to show up in the way that works best for you, and I’ll communicate the same for myself!