Carer Lead

An exciting opportunity has arisen in Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust’s (CNTW) North Cumbria Locality. This role will be for the 24/7 Community Hope Haven based in Copeland, Cumbria. This is a unique opportunity to work as part of a new and transformative service, due to launch in January 2025.
Our aim is to transform the way mental health care is provided locally, by bringing together specialist health, social care and community services in the heart of Whitehaven in West Cumbria.
Lived experience roles are a vital part of our plan to continually improve the services that we provide. This role is aimed at people with personal lived experience of their own recovery journey, or supporting someone else, to inspire people through their own recovery path.
As this is a community-based role, you must be able to work centrally from the hub and be able to travel across the Copeland area and other Trust sites across CNTW.
Due to the 24/7 nature of the project, unsocial working hours may be required.
We understand that the carer role is vital in a person’s mental health recovery. We also acknowledge how demanding this role can often be for carers. We are looking for someone who is passionate, motivated, and innovative and can be our ‘Carer Lead’. The main part of the role will involve working directly with carers and families using a ‘Think Family Approach’. This will include 1:1, group work and family work. Our aim is for Carer Leads to facilitate positive change for carers and families and be pivotal in developing cultural change in the wider community. There will be potential for you to deliver evidenced based intervention based on the NICE guidelines for supporting Adult Carers. All training and supervision will be provided to enable you to make the most of your skills and potential.
We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.
Hope Haven is a multi agency collaborative service which supports the community in promoting mental wellbeing, accessing support with mental health experiences and the areas that may trigger or drive mental health distress.
This post is part of a joint project with other partners including Home Group, Everyturn, iCan Wellbeing and The Well Communities, amongst others.
The other aspect of this role is to advocate for cares within the wider multidisciplinary team. The carer lead will support the team to maintain and enhance their skills around carer involvement and offer carers training where needed, with the aim of improving support for carers. It will be essential to work closely with our peer support workers to utilise their lived experience and unique perspectives. The Carer Lead will be very much a valued member of the Multi-Disciplinary Team and will be part of a wider network of other carer leads across the Trust.
The role requires someone who is an excellent leader and communicator and requires good advocacy skills to represent the voice of carers and families. The role requires resilience, creativity and empathy as well as being able to forge new links with partner agencies. The role also requires working with complex family dynamics, including people experiencing domestic violence and safeguarding issues. We will support with supervision, training, and development. We welcome people from a diverse range of professions and backgrounds and also welcome people who have had experience of caring for others.
Please find attached job description for full details.
**Advertising date**: 6th February 2025
**Closing date**: 19th February 2025