Job summary
This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are part-time, 22.5 hours per week.
This is an exciting opportunity for excellent people who are passionate about creating positive changes for people described as experiencing 'Complex Emotional Needs'.
As a peer support worker you will meet with people experiencing distress and provide hope, optimism and share ideas that support coping from that unique perspective of having lived through similar issues.
We are a close and supportive multi-disciplinary team and we're proud of our work, making small sustainable changes in service responses across Gloucestershire.
An exciting development within the CEN service is the FERN - Frequent Engagement Response Network which is a small sub-team within CEN. This will focus on improving responses to people presenting regularly to 999 services. The FERN team includes a serving police officer, an assistant psychologist and peer support workers who work together to create person centred, psychologically informed plans that direct responders towards a trauma informed approach in situations of high risk. There will also be opportunities to support and 'upskill' service partners who may be emotionally impacted by some of the situations they are responding to.
Essential to this post is having experienced living with your own Complex Emotional Needs and having used this experience to support others within their recovery.
Main duties of the job
The role of the peer support worker is:
- To support the multi-disciplinary team in promoting recovery orientated environment by identifying recovery focussed activities and fostering a culture of hope.
- Deliver an approach that is underpinned by the principals of trauma informed care.
- To work alongside a number of service users on a one to one or group basis.
- Contribute to the development of training to raise awarensses and reduce stigma.
- Contribute to developing and supporting a small team of volunteer peer mentors.
The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.
About us
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
- 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
- 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
- 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
Job description
Job responsibilities
To communicate with a variety of people on a range of matters and keep accurate and complete records consistent with the Trusts policies and procedures.
To act as a specialist resource within the service, by offering a unique perspective to service users. To act as an expert on recovery resources.
To share ideas about ways of achieving recovery goals.
To co-faciliate group therapy, support and psycho-education groups in various settings within the community.
To promote opportunities for people with lived experience to raise awareness and promote understanding.
Maintain quality in own work and encourage others to do so, while working as an effective and responsible team member. Prioritise own workload and organise own work to meet timescales.
Peer support work will take proactive steps to ensure accessibility.
- Explore the role of Peer Mentor Volunteers, which may involve holding focus groups with interested persons to explore key principles for peer support.
- Respond to enquiries about Peer Support in a timely manner.
- Attend Peer Support Group meetings.
- Support individuals and their families from a holistic perspective.
- To actively contribute to the development and practice of a coherent, supportive, and effective learning environment; attending regular team meetings.
- To attend and actively participate in support and supervision meetings and other meetings as agreed.
To input and store data and information, as well as collect, collate and report routine data and information.
- Make changes in own practice and offer suggestions for improving services and to contribute to the ongoing development of the Complex Emotional Needs Service.
- To maintain good communication with colleagues within Gloucestershire Health and Care Trust, peer mentors, partner organisations and external agencies.
- Work closely with Trust social inclusion team, help lead on quarterly expert by lived experience forums.
- Act in ways that support equality and value diversity. Treat everyone with whom you come into contact with dignity and respect. Recognise and report behaviour that undermines equality and diversity.
- To adhere to the trust clinical guidelines, code of ethics, policies, procedures and stated aims / core purpose.
To undertake other duties appropriate to the post as required by the Team Manager.
This role is not eligible for sponsorship as per the Governments UK VISA and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
Job description
Job responsibilities
To communicate with a variety of people on a range of matters and keep accurate and complete records consistent with the Trusts policies and procedures.
To act as a specialist resource within the service, by offering a unique perspective to service users. To act as an expert on recovery resources.
To share ideas about ways of achieving recovery goals.
To co-faciliate group therapy, support and psycho-education groups in various settings within the community.
To promote opportunities for people with lived experience to raise awareness and promote understanding.
Maintain quality in own work and encourage others to do so, while working as an effective and responsible team member. Prioritise own workload and organise own work to meet timescales.
Peer support work will take proactive steps to ensure accessibility.
- Explore the role of Peer Mentor Volunteers, which may involve holding focus groups with interested persons to explore key principles for peer support.
- Respond to enquiries about Peer Support in a timely manner.
- Attend Peer Support Group meetings.
- Support individuals and their families from a holistic perspective.
- To actively contribute to the development and practice of a coherent, supportive, and effective learning environment; attending regular team meetings.
- To attend and actively participate in support and supervision meetings and other meetings as agreed.
To input and store data and information, as well as collect, collate and report routine data and information.
- Make changes in own practice and offer suggestions for improving services and to contribute to the ongoing development of the Complex Emotional Needs Service.
- To maintain good communication with colleagues within Gloucestershire Health and Care Trust, peer mentors, partner organisations and external agencies.
- Work closely with Trust social inclusion team, help lead on quarterly expert by lived experience forums.
- Act in ways that support equality and value diversity. Treat everyone with whom you come into contact with dignity and respect. Recognise and report behaviour that undermines equality and diversity.
- To adhere to the trust clinical guidelines, code of ethics, policies, procedures and stated aims / core purpose.
To undertake other duties appropriate to the post as required by the Team Manager.
This role is not eligible for sponsorship as per the Governments UK VISA and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Must have experienced complex emotional needs yourself. This is about overwhelming emotions and is often related to psychological trauma
- Must have experience of supporting others with emotional needs
Qualifications
Essential
- Training to NVQ level 3 or equivalent level of experience, knowledge or training.
Experience
Essential
- Proven experience of unsupervised working practices.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Must have experienced complex emotional needs yourself. This is about overwhelming emotions and is often related to psychological trauma
- Must have experience of supporting others with emotional needs
Qualifications
Essential
- Training to NVQ level 3 or equivalent level of experience, knowledge or training.
Experience
Essential
- Proven experience of unsupervised working practices.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
