The Strength and Resilience of Our Lived Experience Peer Group

Our Lived Experience Peer Group continues to be a place where women can connect, share experiences and recognise their own strengths. The journeys of women in the group are not always easy. Many continue to navigate stigma and assumptions associated with having experienced the justice system. 

Yet, no matter how small the steps may sometimes seem, women continue to move forward, make progress and rebuild their lives.  

Recently, we have celebrated some wonderful achievements within the group. 

Two women have gained employment, creating new opportunities and pathways for their futures. Another woman, after four years of significant hardship, has finally completed her poetry submission, something she never gave up on despite everything she experienced along the way. 

These achievements may look different for each woman, but every one of them matters. What makes the group so inspiring is witnessing women recognise their own strengths, support one another and keep going, even when the odds feel stacked against them. Their resilience, courage and determination are a powerful reminder that a person's past does not define their future. 

ZARA's Story 

I’m really proud of how far I’ve come and everything that’s led me to where I am today, so I’m more than happy to share a little bit of my journey. 

When I first joined the WAM Peer Group, Cathy and Rachel were two of the main people who welcomed me in. From the beginning, they made me feel like I belonged and that the goals I had for myself were achievable.  The Peer Group also helped me build confidence in myself, particularly with networking, connecting with others and putting myself out there for opportunities that I may not have had the confidence to pursue before. 

My journey definitely hasn’t been without barriers. One of the biggest has been my Working with Children Check, which I was unsuccessful in obtaining and have now spent around a year and a half navigating, including advocating for myself through the VCAT appeal process. It has been challenging and frustrating at times, particularly having to navigate much of the process myself, but I made a decision that I wasn’t going to allow one barrier to stop me from moving forward or pursuing a career I had worked so hard towards. 

Despite that challenge, I secured paid employment with Turning Point as a Lived Experience Peer Support Worker, which has meant so much more to me than simply getting a job. It has shown me that my past doesn’t have to define my future and that experiences I once saw as barriers can now be used to bring hope and support to others. I’ve continued to grow and take on new opportunities, such as volunteering as a mentor with WAM and lived experience work with SHARC and Hope Network. More recently, I was also successful in securing an additional peer support position within Turning Point. 

When I look at where I am now, I’m proud that I kept showing up, advocating for myself and saying yes to opportunities, even when there were barriers in front of me. I’m also incredibly grateful for the people who saw potential in me and encouraged me along the way. WAM and the Peer Group have been an important part of that journey.  

If sharing my story gives another woman even a little bit of hope that where she is today doesn’t determine where she can be tomorrow, then that means a lot to me. 

KARYN's story 

Sometimes the hole feels too deep and the challenges just too big to ever find a way out. 

A series of events I could never have foreseen arrived in my life all at once: a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis which led to the loss of my working life, the end of my long-term marriage, and the passing of my mother, my favourite sibling, and my estranged father. I had to move six times in four years and spent years navigating the justice system. Along the way, traumatic experiences from my past resurfaced and I no longer knew who I was or where I belonged and I'm still finding my way day by day.   

Like a storm battering me relentlessly, smashing me against the rocks, these losses lead to a path I could never predict. I found myself behaving in rageful and vengeful ways leading to multiple criminal charges, four days in remand and an all-consuming gambling habit. 

Losing everything made me realise there were still parts of myself that were not lost and could not be taken.  

Coming close to giving up so many times and looking back now that I am further down the road, I can see the light came from many places and can be found at the bottom of the darkest of holes. One of my Psychologists called them "glimmers."  

They could be the smallest of things: a flower, a sunset, patting a dog or looking at the ocean. Anything that made me feel like me again, anything that made me smile just a little, kept me grounded and gave me the hope I needed to keep moving forward.  

I had to search time and again inside myself and ask for help from others to find those glimmers. Some of the systems and helplines I reached out to failed miserably and were more harmful than helpful. But then there were others that really helped and stood alongside me as I struggled. My son, faithful friends, helpful Psychologists, the HOPE program, fellow inmates at a mental health facility and most significantly the women of WAM. 
 
Life started to improve as I heard their brave stories, which inspired and humbled me. Cathy and Jaffa welcomed me with open arms and open hearts. I found a safe space to express the shame and guilt I had been carrying along with the many hurts and betrayals. I made new friends, took part in the memoir writing course, had some of my poetry displayed at an exhibition, attended the Songs Inside movie, and bit by bit a spark started to return.  

A little thing called hope came back into my life.  

My voice grew and I discovered things I never knew. I learned about lived experience and how this can be one of the most valuable ways to help ourselves and others.  

I now have a wonderful mentor. We regularly meet up for coffee, visit the library and take part in community activities. I found a world where I wasn't alone anymore, never judged and always encouraged.  

Recently I completed an online poetry course that I started over four years ago. So many times I thought I might never finish it, but I did. I felt so proud of myself for never giving up!  

I've learned that even the smallest step, the tiniest change, can be a way forward. Giving myself permission to cry, sleep, heal, and voice my pain is part of the process to empowerment and reinvention.  

But the biggest lesson of all?  

We are not alone.