Senior Peer Support Worker

Overview

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you\’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We\’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video.

Job overview

Senior Peer Support Worker (BAND 4; 1.6 WTE; Fixed Term: 1 year in first instance)

Stigma and discrimination can have a serious impact on the wellbeing of people who experience psychosis and can impact personal recovery. Peer-delivered interventions that are designed to support people with psychosis who have been personally impacted by stigma show promise, but to date most trials have been small and have focused on feasibility rather than efficacy of the peer interventions.

Following the success of our NIHR funded feasibility trial, Let\’s Talk 1, the Let\’s Talk 2 Trial has now been funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through the Efficacy and Mechanisms Evaluation (EME) programme.

The Let\’s Talk 2 trial is a 32-month randomised controlled trial, jointly led by Professor Tony Morrison and Dr Melissa Pyle at the Psychosis Research Unit. Let\’s Talk 2 builds on the success of Lets Talk 1 and our track record of collaborative research on psychosocial interventions for people with experience of psychosis by evaluating the possible benefits of a peer-delivered intervention called Let\’s Talk which aims to aid mental health disclosure decision making.

We will compare the Let\’s Talk peer-delivered intervention to standard care from Early Intervention in Psychosis Services and Community Mental Health Teams. We will conduct this research across four areas in the UK (Avon and Wiltshire, Greater Manchester, North East London and South London).

Main duties of the job

NELFT\’s Research and Development Department is seeking to appoint 2 peer support workers (PSWs) to work on the Let\’s Talk 2 Trial. The Let\’s Talk PSWs will be primarily responsible for delivering the peer-delivered intervention Let\’s Talk. The Let\’s Talk intervention is a semi-structured approach to supporting people with psychosis who are experiencing internalised stigma and who report concerns about talking about their psychosis experiences or concealing their experiences because of stigma. It is an approach that is underpinned by the principles of Peer Support. The PSWs will work together with service users across the footprint of the Trust. The posts will be for a fixed term of 12 months initially.

You will have lived experience of psychosis and experience of working in a relevant peer support role. You will be able to work in an independent and autonomous fashion handling a diverse caseload. You will uphold peer values of supporting and promoting recovery as a user led concept, emphasise hope and optimism, value learning through lived experience and focus on strengths rather than deficits.

Supervision is provided for all duties from Dr Lisa Wood, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & site lead for Let\’s Talk 2 in NELFT.

As the post will involve travel within the North East London area.

For further information, please contact Dr Lisa Wood.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a pro rata for part time).

Sponsorship

This role is not eligible for sponsorship. You must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application. Unfortunately, we cannot progress applications from individuals who would require sponsorship for this post.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application. We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Supporting Our Communities

At NELFT, we are committed to supporting and investing in our local communities. As part of this, we are prioritising applications from individuals who live within the areas we serve. This helps us build a workforce that truly reflects the diverse populations we care for, improves our ability to provide culturally informed services, and strengthens local employment opportunities. By recruiting locally, we aim to foster a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable health and care system.

References

Please ensure that the references are from your most recent employer and one of these must be your direct Line Manager or Supervisor. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. Additionally, ensure that any gaps in your employment history are clearly indicated. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.

If you like the sound of working with NELFT, don\’t waste a moment and apply now!

Person specification

Education

Essential criteria

• NVQ level 2 or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy
• A willingness to undertake further training and/or qualifications.
• NVQ3 in health and social care or equivalent experience.
• Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training.

Desirable criteria

• NELFT Accredited Peer Support Worker Training

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of working as a Peer Support Worker in a relevant setting.
• Own personal lived experience of mental health.
• Ability to demonstrate an understanding of mental health issues.

Desirable criteria

• Awareness of local services and community organisations.
• Knowledge of benefits/employment systems.
• Ability to speak other languages.
• Experience of delivering training.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
• A sound knowledge of good practice in Peer Support Work
• Ability to use Email, Word processing packages.
• Demonstrate knowledge of personal Recovery
• Evidence of good interpersonal skills and an ability to form peer relationships with service users and carers.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to appreciate / understand other people\’s worlds.
• Commitment to Trust Equality and Diversity policies and Trust values.
• Cultural awareness including awareness of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to recognise and appropriately challenge stigma and discrimination.
• Willingness to take initiative and speaking Truth to Power.
• Ability to communicate on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, both internally and externally to the Trust.
• To demonstrate broad understanding of the principles of recovery.
• Able to demonstrate understanding of Intentional Peer Support.
• To demonstrate a knowledge of conducting audits, survey\’s and consultations.
• Ability to co-produce new information resources to promote emerging projects.

Other

Essential criteria

• To be aware and demonstrate the Trust Values
• To be able to travel effectively throughout the Trust

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our efforts to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a \’Top 10 Family Friendly Employer\’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that\’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans, reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic. We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.

Documents to download

• Band 4 Senior Peer Support Worker JD & PS (PDF, 464.4KB)
• Candidate Recruitment Pack (PDF, 671.2KB)