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.

YOUR APPLICATION

**Job overview**:
This is an exciting opportunity to join a new team and growing service, which aims to help young people at risk of developing psychosis who are experiencing an at-risk mental state. The Therapeutic Interventions for Distressing unusual Experiences Service (TIDES) is a team working therapeutically with young people aged 14-35 across Norfolk & Waveney. We are seeking a Peer Support Worker to join the existing team on a full or part time basis. The base will be Norwich and would be expected to work flexibly between bases in Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, and home.

A Peer Support Worker is someone who will have been on their own recovery journey. The role explicitly draws upon and shares their lived experiences of recovery from mental health challenges, and tells their own recovery story, to inspire hope, model recovery and inform service users, as well as supporting service users in finding their own path to recovery.

**Main duties of the job**:

- To undertake the Care Certificate within the first 12 weeks of employment - or have an existing qualification/programme of learning agreed as meeting wholly or partially, the standards of the Care Certificate.
- To work with the MDT in the support of service users accessing the service.
- To establish a supportive and respectful relationship with Service Users and their Carers.
- To role-model personal responsibility, self-awareness, self-belief, advocacy and hopefulness via the telling of their own recovery story to inspire and incite confidence in peers.
- To share/teach coping, self-help, and self-management techniques within the peer relationship.
- To support individuals in identifying their own strengths, personal interests, achievements, and meaningful recovery goals.
- To assist service users in being actively involved in creating their own unique recovery action plan.
- To provide support for Service Users through maintaining knowledge and links with Community resources and actively support service users to access them.
- To play an active part in facilitating groups within the service where appropriate.
- To support service users in seeking to connect/maintain contact with their families, friends, and significant others and in learning how to improve and develop relationships.
- To always maintain a focus on the rights of the service user/carer, and to respect their personal, social, spiritual beliefs and their unique identity.

**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 nursing 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**:
TIDES are a supportive team currently made up of clinical psychology, systemic family therapy, cognitive behavioural therapists and mental health practitioners which are from a variety of professional backgrounds. Our team will be offering young people evidence-based interventions such as psychoeducational work, individual CBT and family therapeutic work aimed at helping our young people and their families to cope with their unusual experiences. TIDES practitioners work with small manageable caseloads and hold an integrated approach to the care we provide.

When you join us, you can expect a thorough induction, specific peer Support Worker training and ongoing support from the team and wider peer support network.

**Please note that due the large geographical area covered by the team, the ability to travel independently is a requirement of this position.**

The PSW will provide formalised peer support and practical assistance to service users to help them regain control over their lives and enable their own unique recovery journey.

PSWs will show empathy, share experiences, inspire hope, and promote personal recovery, with the aim of assisting s