Carer / Peer Support Worker (NHS AfC: Band 4) - Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others. There’s a place for you at CNWL. We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people. We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

To help your onboarding go smoothly, it’s essential that internal applicants:

• Use their NHS.net email address in their TRAC profile
• Ensure your application is marked to show that you are a current CNWL staff member

This small step helps avoid major problems later.

Job overview:

You must have personal lived experience before you apply for this role. CNWL is looking to recruit a carer or peer support worker for the Westminster Older Adults and Health Ageing Community Mental Health Team and Home Treatment Team. This role has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of caring for people with mental health challenges and also their own lived experience of mental health challenges. Through sharing wisdom from their own experiences, carer peer support workers will inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible in others.

The team is a dynamic service that supports people with functional mental health needs and/or a primary diagnosis of dementia to manage their mental and physical health, reside in the least restrictive setting and promote recovery. The service is co-located and works closely with the Westminster City Council mental health service to provide a holistic service to service users and carers.

Main duties of the job:

We believe in making a real difference to the lives of older adults by providing a service that is non-hierarchical, multi-functional and multi-disciplinary, drawing on the expertise of all team members to deliver person-centred assessment, care and support. We work continuously to instil a caring and compassionate culture. We have created a cohesive and proactive team of professionals who are empowered to work across functional divides to deliver the best care for our service users and carers.

As an integral and highly valued member of the multi-disciplinary team, the carer or peer support worker will provide formalised peer support and practical assistance to service users and carers in order for them to regain control over their lives and their own unique recovery journey. They will also work collaboratively with others to assist in improving the wellbeing of families and carers of people with mental health issues.

Working for our organisation:

CNWL Values: Central and North West London NHS Trust expects the Advanced Lived Experience Practitioner to act in a way that shows an understanding of our core values and is active in putting them into practice with service users, their friends, family, carers and also other staff members.

• COMPASSION: contribution to a caring and kind environment and recognition that what you do and say can help to improve the lives of others.
• RESPECT: acknowledge, respect and value the diversity of each individual and recognition of uniqueness.
• EMPOWERMENT: commitment to providing information, resources and support to help others make their own decisions and meet their own needs.
• PARTNERSHIP: work closely with others and behave in a way that demonstrates understanding that commissioners and users of our services are the people who generate and fund our work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• To be an active member of the multidisciplinary team and to undertake support with individuals, and their families/carers, who have acute or severe and enduring mental health problems or dementia who otherwise require intervention or input from the service.
• To provide support to an allocated group of service users in order to promote their recovery and wellbeing in the community.
• To assist in the provision of evidence-based interventions under the guidance of a CNWL qualified Practitioner.
• To assist Service Users and their Carers with health and wellbeing needs within a multidisciplinary setting.
• To work independently with service users and carers, but under supervision and in support of lead professionals and qualified clinical staff, in the negotiated and planned delivery of a range of interventions and activities to identified service users, carers and their families.
• Contributing to the best possible clinical outcomes by using up-to-date skills and adhering to evidence-based policies and procedures when implementing care plans.
• To work with service users in accessing meaningful activities, community engagement, enhancing their daily routines and other opportunities, and to support the service users in using these to their full advantage to enhance recovery and maintain good quality of life.
• To work with service users to promote their independence, maintenance and regaining skills, preventative work in order to improve current and future quality of life.
• To contribute to all stages of the care planning process including assessing risks and needs.
• To monitor the service user’s progress, level of functioning & mental state, reporting progress and areas of concern to the multi-disciplinary team (verbally & electronic record keeping systems).
• To assume a ‘coaching’ role supporting service users in developing personal recovery plans; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
• To assist service users to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals.
• To positively promote and support independent living for service users in the community by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting service users to access them e.g. in relation to employment, community living and leisure.
• To provide opportunities for service users to direct their own recovery process.
• To work flexibly in response to the needs of the service users of the community teams.
• Acting as advocates in the multi-disciplinary team.
• Respecting, empowering and working in partnership with service users, families and carers when contributing to the implementation and evaluation of care plans.
• Gaining consent and, as far as possible, involving service users, family and carers in all decision making.
• Working together with multi-disciplinary teams and in partnership with other teams and services to provide seamless care.
• To work in a variety of locations, including service users' homes, and other non-clinical settings, e.g. cafes, sports facilities, recovery colleges, community centres, etc.

Person specification:

• Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training, (including accredited peer support worker training if not previously undertaken)
• Evidence of personal development in previous employment
• Accredited certificate in Life Coaching
• Qualified Open Dialogue practitioner or willingness to undertake training
• Own personal lived experience of caring for someone with mental health difficulties.
• Willing to positively share own life experiences, and personal experience of caring for someone with mental health challenges with service users and carers.
• Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work towards achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting (paid or unpaid)
• Experience in a health or social care setting.
• Experience of liaising with other agencies
• Paid or unpaid experience of working with older adults
• Own personal experience of accessing mental health services or supporting a family member through the process.

Skills, knowledge and abilities:

• Ability to demonstrate experiential knowledge of recovery
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
• Evidence of good interpersonal skills and an ability to form peer / carer relationships with service users and carers
• Ability to communicate on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, both internally and externally to the Trust
• Ability to appreciate / understand other people’s worlds
• Knowledge of how to build community links and networks
• Knowledge of current legislation which underpins Health and Social Care and a working knowledge of the Equalities Act 2010 and Human Rights Act.
• Experience working with diverse communities
• Knowledge of benefits/ employment systems
• Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of mental health issues
• Ability to demonstrate good understanding of carers’ experiences and support needs

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 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.

We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.

If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.