Senior Peer Support Worker

Job Overview
As part of the Peer Support offering at St Charles Hospital in Kensington and Chelsea we are looking for a Senior Peer Support Worker. The post holder will have their own lived experience of using inpatient mental health services and will already have experience in a Peer Worker Role.

The Post Holder will hold some supervisory responsibilities for peer workers working on the wards as well as upholding peer support and recovery principles throughout the entire mental health unit. Using their own experiences of using inpatient services to help support people using the service, carers and staff alike.

Main duties of the job

You must use your own Lived Experience of using services to support current patients on both a one to one and group basis

Uphold recovery focused practice across the unit

Provide supervision to peer support workers on a one to one and group basis

Support, facilitate and evaluate peer support and recovery groups throughout the unit.

Help support service user and carer involvement work.

Working for our organisation

Located on the wider St Charles site you will be working in the mental health health centre. It is a dynamic and fast paced environment. You will work across all of the wards at St Charles as well as working in close collaboration with the other inpatient therapies team.

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 7,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

With every new employee we are hoping to find our future leaders and will support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, emotional disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, enhancement treatment and more whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• Be committed to professional development through independent learning, keeping up to date with the latest research, and building connections with local and national peer networks.
• Promote development of best practices in peer support and lived experience practice across the service through active participation in internal and external training and development programmes.
• Supporting Service User and Carer involvement forums and opportunities across the unit.
• Supporting the wider Trust wide Lived Experience strategy on a local level

Supporting Quality Improvement (QI) projects in the unit, and including service user and carer involvement within this.

• Respect integrity, confidentiality, clinical governance, and data protection requirements in line with Trust policy.
• Have responsibility for relevant safeguarding issues in relation to service users and their network, including making difficult decisions as a team adhering to the Trust's Safeguarding policy.
• Engage in self-reflective practices and commit to continued personal development.
• Attending appropriate inpatient meetings, bringing in the peer and lived perspective to these.
• Facilitating the development and delivery of Recovery College Snapshot sessions across the unit.
• Supporting the development and delivery of peer led and recovery focused groups across the unit.
• Providing specialist one to one peer support on the wards.
• Connecting with local area organisations.

Leading on De-escalation on the wards

• To contribute and commit to undertaking an annual development review/appraisal.
• Completion of all mandatory training
• To receive regular line management supervision in addition to discipline-specific supervision.
• Group supervision/Reflective Practice (expectation to attend these)
• Completion of Level 4 Developing Expertise in Peer Working Course if not already undertaken
• Providing Peer Supervision to Peer Support Workers on the wards as well as facilitating Peer Group Supervision to wider peer colleagues across the trust
• Attending their own individual and group supervision both line management and peer supervision as dictated by policy.
• Support and facilitation of monthly learning sessions.
• Supporting any new starters and leading them through the Peer Worker Foundation Training

Person specification

Education And Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Completed peer support worker training (preferably accredited).
• Evidence of further training in relation to personal recovery principles
• Willingness to undertake or completion of Level 4 accredited course "Developing Expertise in Peer Support" course.
• Evidence of continuing professional and personal development

Desirable criteria

• Trauma Informed Approach training

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Own personal lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges
• Experience of having personally accessed inpatient mental health services
• Experience of positively sharing own life experiences, and personal recovery journey, with service users, carers and others
• Experience of working in a range of health and/or social care settings as a peer support worker
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems and supporting them to access opportunities beyond mental health services
• Recent experience of supervision of others (in paid or unpaid capacity)
• Recent experience of delivering training and presentations to a wide range of audiences
• Experience in implementing recruitment and selection processes
• Experience of project development
• Experience of working both independently as well as providing group and 1:1 activities

Desirable criteria

• Involvement in service redesign and development.

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities
Essential criteria

• Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
• Effective listening skills
• Ability to communicate on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, both internally and externally to the Trust
• Ability to act calmly and to respond in a professional manner to distress, disturbance and unpredictability
• Good marketing and presentation skills
• Ability to problem solve and create innovative solutions to help empower others
• Ability to challenge issues in relation to stigma, low expectations and discriminatory practice in an effective manner

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of current legislation which underpins health and Social Care and a working knowledge of the Equalities Act 2010 and Human Rights Act.
• Ability to speak another language

Attitudes, Aptitudes and Personal Characteristics

Essential criteria

• Emotional intelligence and reflectivity with ability to work effectively with others to bring about change in a complex and dynamic organisation
• An awareness of behaviour and interactions as meaningful communications

Other
Essential criteria

• Declared medically fit by the Occupational Health department to perform the duties of the post.
• Ability to travel across the Trust by public transport