Consumer Advocate (0.3 FTE)
Christchurch| Permanent Part-Time (12 hours per week)
Use your lived experience to amplify voices and help shape better mental health
services.
Are you someone who knows what it’s like to not feel heard — and how powerful it can be when you finally are? This is an opportunity to use your lived experience to ensure others feel seen, listened to, and valued in their recovery journey.
Mō Te Tūranga | About The role
As a Consumer Advocate, you will act as a conduit between tāngata, whānau, and the organisation — supporting people to share their experiences and ensuring those voices are heard, understood, and responded to.
You’ll play a key role in strengthening how we gather, listen to, and act on feedback, helping Stepping Stone Trust continue its journey toward genuinely embedding the voices of tāngata and whānau in everything we do.
In this role, you will:
- Support tāngata and whānau to share feedback through a range of channels
- Advocate for tāngata, empowering them to speak up rather than speaking for them
- Facilitate focus groups, and feedback forums
- Support complaints, review processes, and restorative conversations
- Build trusted relationships with tāngata, whānau, and kaimahi
- Coach and support kaimahi to engage positively with feedback and become better
listeners
- Contribute to surveys, reporting, and continuous quality improvement
- Engage in co-reflection, supervision, and peer support opportunities
Mōu | About you
We’re looking for someone who brings authenticity, insight, and a strong commitment to advocacy through lived experience.
Must Have:
- Lived experience of recovery from mental distress and/or addiction preferably having lived experience of using mental health services (or as a whānau member supporting someone with lived experience)
- Ability to safely and purposefully use lived experience in your mahi
- Experience in the mental health or related sector (ideally 2–3 years, including peer work)
- Experience using or understanding services like SST (directly or through whānau)
- Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to create trust
- Excellent active listening skills and the ability to empower others
- A reflective, learning mindset with the ability to coach others
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including basic MS Office capability
- Strong organisational skills and ability to manage your workload effectively
- A genuine commitment to supporting tāngata and contributing to positive change
- Willingness to support SST’s bicultural journey and Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles
- Full, clean driver’s licence
- Ability to meet Police Vetting and safety checking requirements
Desirable:
- Experience facilitating hui, focus groups, or surveys
- Understanding of advocacy, complaints, or restorative approaches
- Flexibility to work hours that meet the needs of tāngata and whānau (including occasional
evenings)
Tā mātou mahi | We offer
- A supportive, values-driven workplace
- Ongoing professional supervision and training
- Paid sick leave, available from commencement (provided eligibility criteria are met)
- Paid birthday leave (after six months permanent employment).
- Internal training and development opportunities.
Mō mātou | About us
At Stepping Stone Trust, we provide community and residential services that support over 700 people each week across Canterbury and Otago. With more than 275 staff across a wide range of roles, our team is committed to supporting people with compassion, professionalism, and hope.
Our work is grounded in our core values of Faith, Grace, Hope, Love and Integrity.
Interested?
Applications close: 5pm – Sunday, 19th April 2026
If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you. Please click “Apply Now” with your CV and
cover letter.
Applications are reviewed as we receive them, and interviews may take place prior to the closing date. We reserve the right to hire employees and close a job before the advertised closing date.
Stepping Stone Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating a safe, inclusive workplace where everyone feels they belong. All employees will be vetted at a level appropriate to the role.
** Our organisation has a strong commitment to safeguarding vulnerable people; and any employees will be vetted to a level appropriate to the role for which they have applied.
