Our Presenters
Anna Epifanio
CLEW Leadership – Sustaining Statewide Carer Lived Experience Workforce
Anna’s presentation will explore the role of the Carer Lived Experience Workforce (CLEW), a member-based network that supports family carer lived experience workers employed in Victorian-funded mental health organisations. CLEW provides a vital space for connection, professional development, and collective advocacy, ensuring that the voices of family carers are recognised and valued within the mental health sector.
As a program auspiced by Tandem, CLEW benefits from a dedicated board position, allowing it to influence workforce issues at a systemic level. Members connect regularly through communities of practice, forums, and group co-reflection/supervision, fostering peer support, knowledge-sharing, and the strengthening of this professional discipline.
Anna’s presentation will outline CLEW’s values and guiding principles, highlight key achievements of the CLEW Leadership Team, and discuss current priorities, including strengthening partnerships and advocating for workforce recognition. She will also explore CLEW’s ongoing sustainability efforts in collaboration with the Department of Health and Wellbeing, focusing on succession planning, professional development, mentoring, and supervision support.
Through this talk, Anna will offer valuable insights into how CLEW enhances professional growth, advances the discipline of family carer lived experience work, and collaborates with key sector partners to address workforce challenges. She will also provide information on how to get involved with CLEW and access further support and education through Tandem.
Anna’s varied experience within mental health as a Carer Lived Experience worker over the last 12 years, as well as her previous community and oncology-based roles have been instrumental in developing knowledge, confidence and building her leadership skills. She has a strong conviction around achieving equity of access and improving quality of life, particularly for individuals that have a mental illness as well as their families/carers.
She has experience as a Carer Peer Support Worker, Carer Peer Support Coordinator/Consultant and recently was appointed as the inaugural Carer Lived Experience Manager at Inner West Area Mental Health Services and now in the Deputy Director role at Royal Melbourne Hospital Mental health services, these roles have significantly consolidated her knowledge and skills pertaining to the Carer Lived Experience discipline. A key part of her Carer Lived experience work has been to lead/resource a team of carer peer support workers as well as clinical staff supporting carer peer support roles in various parts of the service.
Anna has been a member of the CLEW Leadership over the last 5 years and is passionate about progressing the specific training and support needs of the Carer Lived Experience workforce and ultimately consolidating the CLEW as an entity in its own right in order to sustain the Carer Lived Experience workforce in Victoria.
