Peer Support Worker - CAMHS in Colchester

Main area Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services Grade Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week Job ref 364-B-576

Site St Aubyn Centre Town Colchester Salary £25,760 - £27,476 Per annum, Pro rata for part time Salary period Yearly Closing 06/11/2026 23:59

Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.

Our Trust cares for more than 100,000 patients at any one time across our community health, mental health and learning disability services across Essex and parts of Bedfordshire and Suffolk.

We want you to be part of our journey of transformation, where our patients and their families are at the heart of everything we do and to achieve our vision to be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care.

You’ll be part of a Trust where you will be supported to be your authentic self and be the best you can be, where we will help you to grow, develop and thrive.

The Trust is recognised by the University of Essex and is a top provider of apprenticeships for people looking to be an assistant practitioner, senior health care support worker (CAP). Our trailblazing CAP apprenticeship won a national HSJ Award.

We are also recognised as a Veteran Aware Trust and holder of gold accreditation from the Ministry of Defence Employment Recognition Scheme. Our services are highlighted as an exemplar of good practice, producing the best care for more than 3,500 armed forces veterans in the past seven years.

We have been shortlisted and won national awards. We are an inclusive organisation and Level 3 Disability Confident Leader Trust.

We are constantly innovating and looking for new ways to deliver care, such as using technology to enhance patient care and working with partners to launch new services such as the Basildon Mental Health Urgent Care Department, virtual hospitals and falls response cars.

Join us and you’ll do the best work of your life – and make a difference to other people’s lives. What we do together, matters.

Job overview

We are unable to provide Sponsorship for this role

Working within a CAMHS inpatient unit you will bring lived experience to the role and use this to support and mentor the young people on the unit.

Your role will involve having regular 1:1 engagement sessions with the young people and helping them to navigate the complexities of their inpatient stay as well as using your experience to support them.

You will attend daily multi disciplinary team meetings as well as weekly ward reviews and CPA reviews on an ad hoc basis. During these meetings you will act as a advocate for the young people and bring their voice to the wider MDT.

You will support the young people with therapeutic activities and accompany them on trips out alongside other staff members.

Main duties of the job

To establish a supportive and respectful relationship with the young people.

To work primarily with service users on a 1:1 and in group settings as agreed with team service manager and team leader.

To help individuals to identify their own achievable and meaningful recovery goals to compliment the work undertaken by the psychology and nursing teams.

Draw upon own lived experience to inspire hope, model self-awareness and facilitate service users in developing their own resourcefulness for managing their health and wellbeing.

To feedback any concerns to the nurse in charge or ward manager and to document your interactions with the young people clearly and accurately.

To attend multi-disciplinary team meeting and ward reviews and bring the voice of the young person to these meetings.

Working for our organisation

Valuing you. Recognising your dedication. At EPUT, we look after you.

• Receive supervision and support to help you fulfil your potential.
• Join an inclusive EPUT community and connect with others through engagement events and equality or champion networks.
• If you need help, we provide mental health and wellbeing services, occupational health advice and counselling.
• 27 days holiday, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 10 years' service.
• Excellent pension of up to 14.5% of your pensionable pay.
• Staff discounts include Blue Light Card, NHS discount offers, and staff benefits.
• £8K relocation package if you move to Essex to join us
• Season ticket loans are interest-free to cover the cost of travelling to and from work via tram, rail, or bus.

Work that wraps around your needs

• Job share: Applications for job shares are welcomed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached Job Description/Person Specification for a full description of the role and responsibilities.

Person specification

Skills/Experience

• Experience of working within health, social care or the voluntary sector with people who have experienced mental health problems
• Lived experience of mental health problems and the inpatient environment.
• Experience of working to a high standard of administration procedures
• Literate in IT/Computer Skills, including Outlook, Exce
• Previous Experience of delivering Peer Support
• Delivering Mental Health First Aid Training
• Use of patient record systems to record client activity

Knowledge

• Good understanding of the need for goal setting when delivering mental health support
• Good understanding of the common mental health challenges faced by young people
• Good knowledge of the Mental Health Act

Education

• Good standard of education; NVQ 3 or equivalent

As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre-employment checks.

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organization will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

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