Perinatal Peer Support Worker

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.

Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.

We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION

YOUR APPLICATION

**Job overview**:
We are looking to recruit a peer support worker (PSW) to join our Perinatal Community Mental Health Team (PCMHT). This will be covering the North Norfolk and City patch. PCMHT is a specialist service providing assessments and treatment to women and birthing people who are experiencing or are at an increased risk of experiencing mental health difficulties during pregnancy and up until the child’s first birthday.

The PSW role has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of mental health difficulties. Therefore, if you have lived experience of recovery from mental health difficulties, ideally including experience of secondary mental health services and / or perinatal mental health difficulties, then this role could be for you.

**Main duties of the job**:
As a PSW, your time will involve direct contact with service users on a one-to-one basis as well as in group settings. You will be a valued member of our multidisciplinary team, attend weekly team meetings and be provided with supervision and training. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team including Consultants, Clinical Psychologists, Peer Support Workers, Nursery Nurses, Parent and Infant Therapists, Systemic Family Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Mental Health Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Assistant Practitioners, Social workers and Team Managers.

As a PSW, you will be acting as a role model by using your own lived experience of recovering from mental health issues, to inspire hope and help service users to develop a belief in their own abilities to deal with various situations; the confidence to have control over their own motivation, behaviour, and social environment; and the ability to successfully achieve their goals in life.

**Working for our organisation**:
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

**Why work for us?** We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

**Why Norfolk and Suffolk?**The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

**Detailed job description and main responsibilities**:
In addition, if you don’t already hold a care certificate, or a relevant qualification, you will need to complete one within 12 weeks of starting in post.

**Person specification**:
**Qualifications**:
**Essential criteria**:

- PSW training course or Commitment to completing the NSFT PSW course or an equivalent PSW training programme.
- Care Certificate must be achieved within first 12 weeks of employment.

**Desirable criteria**:

- Level 3 Diploma in Health & Social Care or equivalent qualification/ experience.
- Level 3 Award in Adult Education & Training

**Experience**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Personal lived experience of mental health difficulties and personal recovery
- Carer (indirect) lived experience supporting someone through their recovery

**Desirable criteria**:

- Me