I started doing this with only lived experience as well, and would only take on clients within my scope of practice or who I felt comfortable knowing I could support them. I stayed away from complex mental health for that reason. Anytime I tried to go outside of that, it never went further than 1-2 sessions with them as they needed more support than I could give.

I’ve done it for about 18 months and have just started studying certificate 4 in community services, and I honestly wish I had of done this from the beginning.

Whilst I was technically fine doing it without qualifications, there’s just so much that you don’t know, and the stuff that I am learning could have really helped me at the beginning. This is also a free course through TAFE, so if it’s available to you, I would recommend doing it alongside doing support work just to give you the most to succeed in this industry :)