The Power of Lived Experience
| Wednesday, May 27, 2026 |
| 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM |
Overview
Clare Davies, Chief Executive Officer, SHARC
Speaker
Clare Davies
CEO
SHARC
The Power of Lived Experience
Abstract
Peer support work is now recognised across Australia’s AOD sector, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood disciplines in our system. As lived and living experience becomes more visible, outdated assumptions continue to shape how peer roles are valued, funded, and embedded. These misconceptions don’t only constrain peer workers – they erode the very conditions needed for peer knowledge to truly shape relational, community led practice.
This keynote frames peer support work as a knowledge based and evidence driven discipline. It draws on SHARC’s 30 years as one of Australia’s longest standing peer led peer governed organisations and the wisdom of AOD experts by experience nationwide.
I explore what our communities have learned about doing this work well – and the harm caused when it is done badly.
These insights are interwoven with my own journey: from early frontline peer work in Queensland, shaped by mentors and community, to leading a large lived experience workforce, and now CEO of SHARC. These experiences demonstrate how deeply our histories, identities and collective struggles shape the discipline we continue to build.
The evidence is clear: peer work keeps people engaged in treatment, strengthens connection, supports people to navigate – and when necessary, challenge – systems, and improves outcomes across the continuum. But peer work only succeeds under the right conditions: clearly defined roles, protected scope, relational supervision, genuine investment, and organisational cultures capable of holding mutuality and shared power.
Without these foundations, peer workers face stigma, disclosure dilemmas, and psychosocial hazards – and poorly implemented models make it easy to dismiss both the workforce and the value of lived experience itself.
Ultimately, this keynote traces our movement’s trajectory, honours the communities that built it, and invites the sector to stand together in this learning moment – to grow the system while fiercely protecting the soul, solidarity and relational authenticity that make peer work transformative
This keynote frames peer support work as a knowledge based and evidence driven discipline. It draws on SHARC’s 30 years as one of Australia’s longest standing peer led peer governed organisations and the wisdom of AOD experts by experience nationwide.
I explore what our communities have learned about doing this work well – and the harm caused when it is done badly.
These insights are interwoven with my own journey: from early frontline peer work in Queensland, shaped by mentors and community, to leading a large lived experience workforce, and now CEO of SHARC. These experiences demonstrate how deeply our histories, identities and collective struggles shape the discipline we continue to build.
The evidence is clear: peer work keeps people engaged in treatment, strengthens connection, supports people to navigate – and when necessary, challenge – systems, and improves outcomes across the continuum. But peer work only succeeds under the right conditions: clearly defined roles, protected scope, relational supervision, genuine investment, and organisational cultures capable of holding mutuality and shared power.
Without these foundations, peer workers face stigma, disclosure dilemmas, and psychosocial hazards – and poorly implemented models make it easy to dismiss both the workforce and the value of lived experience itself.
Ultimately, this keynote traces our movement’s trajectory, honours the communities that built it, and invites the sector to stand together in this learning moment – to grow the system while fiercely protecting the soul, solidarity and relational authenticity that make peer work transformative
Biography
Clare Davies is the CEO of Self Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC). SHARC is a peer-led organisation that has co-produced programs to support people impacted by alcohol and other drugs, and more recently, gambling. Although the influence of lived experience is increasingly recognised in Australia, SHARC has been promoting and advocating for lived experience through services, programs and policies for more than 25 years. Clare joined SHARC in 2022 having held leadership positions in the non-profit sector for over 15 years. Clare’s work is informed by her own lived experience as well as qualifications in social work, governance, psychology and AOD work. Clare is a Churchill Fellow and Harvard Club of Victoria Non-profit Fellow and she is the current Vice President of VAADA.
