Lorna Downes

Family/Carer Workforce Development Coordinator

The Elephant in the Room - experiences of families and carers and what mental health nurses can do to support

Lorna Downes headshot

Lorna's work is grounded in her experience of caring about close family and friends affected by trauma, mental distress and substance use, and the impact of mental health and child protection systems. Lorna and her partner are also accredited foster carers. Lorna began working in mental health in 2003 in various roles supporting families and carers through peer education, peer support, advocacy and representation, before moving into mental health workforce development.  Lorna has been employed as the Victorian Family Carer Workforce Development Coordinator at The Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL) since the role commenced in November 2016.

In addition to lived experience, Lorna is an accredited Intentional Peer Support (IPS) core skills facilitator and an Emotional CPR (eCPR) facilitator. She holds Cert IV in Mental Health Peer Work, Cert IV in Training and Assessment, Diploma of Counselling and Communication and is currently studying social work.