The Peer Practice Capability Framework
Version 1 Final · Released April 2026
“Lived experience is expertise. This framework exists to give that expertise the infrastructure it deserves.”
What this framework is — and what it isn’t
The Peer Practice Capability Framework is the first cross sector capability model for the lived experience workforce in Australia. It names what safe, effective peer practice looks like across eight capability domains and three levels of capability — Foundation, Practitioner, and Advanced.
It is not a curriculum. It is not a credential by itself. It is the underlying architecture that makes credentials, professional development, supervision, and recognition possible. Consistent across mental health, AOD, DFV, disability, youth, homelessness, and community services settings.
Lived experience is expertise. This framework exists to give that expertise the infrastructure it deserves.
Three Levels of Capability
Capability isn’t static. It develops over time, across the arc of a peer worker’s career. The framework names what that progression looks like, at three distinct levels, in every one of the eight domains.
The 8 domains
Each domain describes a distinct area of capability. Together they form the full picture of what’s required to practice safely and effectively as a peer worker, and to be supported well by an organisation that employs you.
WHAT CHANGED IN VERSION 1 FINAL
Version 1 Final is the product of a public consultation process with peer workers, managers, supervisors, and sector leaders across Australia. Three changes from the consultation draft are particularly significant:
Lived experience authorship is now explicitly visible. A new section in the framework documents who contributed and how. If the founding principle is that lived experience is expertise, that must be visible in how the framework itself was built.
Peer identity is framed as dynamic, not fixed. Domains 1 and 2 now recognise that a peer worker’s relationship with their lived experience can shift over time. Navigating those shifts is a capability, not a deficit.
Boundaries and ethical practice (Domain 4) was confirmed as the highest priority domain. Across every sector that responded, this was the most asked for capability.
The full Consultation Summary Report, what we heard, what changed, and what didn’t, is published alongside this framework as a transparency commitment.
Free Test NOW Open
We are recruiting a founding cohort of peer workers to test the first module built on this framework.
The first professional learning module built on this framework, Using Your Story Safely (Domain 2 Foundation), is now offering early testing to a founding cohort.
Four micro-units. Around 3.5 hours, completable in any number of sittings. Fully self paced. No timer. Built for peer workers in their first 18 months in a designated peer role.
Founding cohort members get free access in exchange for completing the module and providing structured feedback. You’ll be among the first to earn the PPL Domain 2 Foundation Credential.
