Lived and Living Experience Workforce University Scholarship Program

All applicants should read the guidelines below before applying.

To apply for a scholarship, applicants must:

• be employed in a state funded mental health or AOD service including peak bodies, training organisations and services delivered by non-government organisations (NGO's).
• be employed in a designated lived or living experience role. Designated lived experience roles include all positions, that regardless of the position type or setting, require lived experience of mental illness or psychological distress, substance use or addiction, or of being a family member or carer
• be an Australian citizen or permanent resident or New Zealand citizen
• be eligible to enrol in, or already be enrolled in, a university level qualification for Semester 1, 2026 (i.e., bachelor’s degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, masters or doctorate)
• be able to provide a letter of recommendation from line manager and/or lived/living experience senior (if relevant), confirming the applicant’s length of engagement in the sector and how the service will support the applicant’s learning (e.g., through study leave, flexible workload, etc). A template is provided on the application form

Eligible courses for this scholarship include university level courses that build management and leadership skills.

To be awarded a scholarship, candidates must demonstrate their commitment to the lived and living experience workforces and describe how the proposed course will support them to use their lived or living experience perspective across leadership or management roles in the mental health and wellbeing or AOD sector. For example, in leadership, management or change management roles.

Funding is available to support lived and living experience workers to complete university level qualifications in Family Therapy (for example, a Graduate Certificate of Counselling Child Youth and Family Therapy or a Master of Clinical Family Therapy). Applicants will need to demonstrate a clear connection to family/carer leadership and skill development in their application to meet the requirements of this initiative.

Currently, there are not any lived or living experience specific university courses offered by Australian-based universities. However, higher degrees by research focused on lived or living experience research topics, are encouraged.

These scholarships are not designed to support lived and living experience workers to qualify as mental health clinicians. As such, funding is unavailable for degrees in clinical disciplines (for example, nursing, social work, occupational therapy).

Areas of study that applicants could consider include (but are not limited to):

• leadership
• education and training
• research and evaluation
• training and assessment
• change management
• finance and administration
• policy and governance
• health services management
• project management
• family therapy
• creative expression: including arts, music, theatre, spirituality (if can be linked to leadership development).

The Collective administers the scholarships on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health.

To apply for the Lived and Living Experience Workforce University Scholarship, visit SHARC’s website.

For more information, please contact The Collective team at SHARC on (03) 9573 1700 or scholarships@sharc.org.au.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Scholarship Program - Social tile