Job summary

The role of Peer Support Worker has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of mental distress, or experience of caring for a friend or family member experiencing mental distress.

Through sharing wisdom from their own experiences, peer support workers will inspire hope and belief that recovery is achievable.

78 Crawley Road is a 24 bed modern purpose built facility that provides mental health care for those who require a period of enhanced recovery support.

The service is aimed at helping people achieve their own individual aspirations and to live a meaningful and rewarding life as independently as possible.

Our service has a strong commitment to recovery, multi-disciplinary working, service user involvement, and equality.

For those candidates requiring a VISA to work in the UK, please be aware that significant knowledge and experience of at least 2 years, (preferably within the NHS) is required to meet the pay threshold for a Health and Care Visa.

Please do not apply if you are unable to meet these criteria.

Main duties of the job

As the Peer Support worker you will work collaboratively to assist in improving the wellbeing of service users, families and carers at 78 Crawley Road.

Examples include :

• To support individuals who are overcoming mental health challenges in their journey to recovery and wellbeing.
• To be a positive role model for service users and use parts of your recovery story, where appropriate, to inspire hope.
• To support and enable individuals to resolve conflicts and regain control, responsibility, hope and enjoyment based on the principles of peer supported recovery.
• Using a peer approach, working with service users (both individually and / or in groups) to meet holistic needs ( education, welfare, employment, financial, leisure, housing and spiritual), alongside the multidisciplinary care team (MDT).
• Supporting service users to engage in participation, co-production and service development opportunities

This role is a vital part of our plan to continually improve the service we provide and is aimed at people who have lived experience of using mental health care services.

We are looking for people who can use their experience of mental distress, recovery and use of peer networks to inspire others.

We have a strong network of diverse and supportive peer support colleagues who meet regularly as part of peer networking across Sussex.

We offer full training to new peer support workers, one-to one peer supervision and ongoing development opportunities

About us

Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for all age groups across Sussex.

Working in Sussex :

• Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns there's always new experiences to be enjoyed
• Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London
• With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure.

Our staff agree, with 82% of people in our recent staff survey telling us that they recognise that high quality care is our top priority.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To support others who are overcoming mental health challenges in their journey to recovery and wellbeing.

To plan, promote and deliver delegated activities in accordance with the service users needs to meet goals identified in the individuals Recovery Plan.

For a full outline please see the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• A recognised qualification in an area related to the workplace or equivalent technical / life skills
• Evidence of a commitment to lifelong learning
• Health care or relevant NVQ Level 3 or equivalent skills acquired through experience or formal teaching qualification (Band 4)
• A recognised Peer Support qualification (Band 4)

Desirable

Health care or relevant NVQ Level 3 or equivalent skills (Band 3)

Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of working with people with mental health needs in a paid or voluntary capacity
• Experience of working with people with mental health difficulties
• Experience working as part of a team
• Experience of being supervised
• Lived experience of mental health issues / difficulties
• Managing personal mental health and recovery
• Knowledge of Peer Support, Recovery and Wellbeing in mental health and ability to apply this throughout your work

Last updated : 2024-05-13