Cavdas Peer Recovery

Background to CAVDAS:
The CAVDAS Alliance brings together the skills, experience, and expertise of three

Welsh substance use organisations - Barod, Kaleidoscope and Recovery Cymru
- and the Cardiff and Vale Area Planning Board. CAVDAS was formed to deliver

innovative services based on the needs of the people in Cardiff and Vale. This unique

arrangement for Welsh services allows space for the voices of people using services

to be heard and for their needs to be met in the ways that work for them. That way,

we can continue to further develop services as required.

We exist to make sure every individual can get the support, information and advice

they need regarding their own or someone else’s drug and alcohol use. We support

every age group and people can get in touch with us directly or via a professional

referral. We call this our ‘No wrong door’ approach: however, and whenever people

get in touch about any drug and alcohol concerns, we’ll know how to help. We

believe the best services are produced together with the people who need them and

who have first-hand experience of what works well. This is how we develop our

services and why we have a strong, professional peer support team who are a very

important part of our approach.

The CAVDAS Peer Recovery Team

This role sits within the CAVDAS Peer Recovery Team which seeks to ensure peer

support is available to people accessing CAVDAS at all stages of change and

recovery. The team offers:

- 1:1 peer support
- Groupwork
- Peer support for people accessing treatment services, preparing to access or

at risk of dropping out
- Recovery and aftercare programmes, including a community rehab

programme
- Voices Action Change - coproduction and service user involvement
- Community connections
- Volunteering
- Co-delivery and a pathway to the wider Recovery Community via the recovery

centre

Purpose of the role:
You will be part of a team of 5 peer recovery and aftercare workers. Your hours form

part of a job share and we want to focus them on offering peer support where there

are current unmet areas of demand, as well as the most positive experience for you.

Your hours will primarily be based on weekends and / or evenings. In the first

instance, we would like you to work on a Saturday, enabling you to offer:

- 1:1 peer support appointments and phone support
- Groupwork
- Phone support
- Contributing to the running of the recovery centre

In the coming months, we will run the community rehab programme on a weekend

and when we do your 1:1 and groupwork will be directed towards that.

This is an exciting and varied role, offering essential support at times when

traditional support is not available. We take our staff wellbeing and experience

seriously and will seek to ensure you have clarity and structure to your hours and

feel connected to the wider team. You will also have regular colleagues who work at

the same times as you.

Our peer support model is based upon C.H.I.M.E. - connection, hope, identity,

meaning and empowerment. This is not a counselling or treatment role. It is

essential that you are both able to build rapport and work with individuals from all

backgrounds in a non-judgemental and supportive way.

Critically, you will embody and represent the RC recovery community ethos and

model and will operate at the interface between CAVDAS treatment services, the

recovery community and recovery supportive community assets. Volunteering is

central to the peer model, and you will work closely with evening volunteers, offering

support, and ‘on the job’ skills development. You will support the work of Voices

Action Change to ensure service users across the system design, deliver and monitor

the work of CAVDAS.

We are looking for people with lived experience of overcoming issues with alcohol

and / or other drugs, in a place of stability to enable you to support others. We have

a strong focus on recovery, wellbeing, and training for our staff, taking our

responsibility as an employer seriously. Recovery support is built into our staff

approach.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES
- Inspire, encourage, and support people as they seek peer support to make

and maintain long term change
- Deliver one-one and group support using a variety of methodologies: - online,

phone, text, video, and face-face
- Deliver structured recovery coaching (training provided)
- Signpost to & liaise with external agencies including, but not limited to,

specialist substance use services, mental health, sexual health, housing, debt

and finance.
- Be responsible to recording all work on relevant databases

General
- To work with and communicate effectively with colleagues to ensure thorough

planning, delivery, monitoring and achievement of the aims and objectives of

the CAVDAS contract associated with this post
- Communicate Recovery Cymru and CAVDAS visions and deliver upon the

model, ethos and philosophy
- Be responsible for dealing sensitively