Job summary
The five Young Adult's Peer Support Worker (YA PSW) roles has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges while a adolescence and during young adulthood. The role is also open to people who have experience of being in care. Through sharing wisdom from their own lived experience, the YA PSW will inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible, and support young people accessing Children and Adolescence Mental Health services (CAMHs) as well as those moving from CAMHs to Adult Mental Health Services (ages 16-25) through their own recovery journey. The YA PSW will support young adults who have recently presented to adult services and proved a tailored recovery package to support the young adult needs derived from lived experience.
As an integral member of the multi-disciplinary team, the YA PSW will provide peer support and practical assistance to young adults , supporting them in their own unique recovery journey. They will also work collaboratively with Parent/Carer PSWs and the wider team to assist in improving the wellbeing of families and carers of young people accessing CAMHS or moving to Adult Mental Health Services or to community/ charity providers across the trust.
The YA PSWs will work flexibly with young adult across a variety of CNWL boroughs; Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea . The role may also entitle occasionally running a group on a weekend.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidates will have the opportunity to help young adults in their recovery using the benefit of their lived experience. They will co-facilitate groups and input into bio monthly young adult pathway forum meetings, as well as offering 1-1 support at particular times during the treatment journey, working collaboratively with clinicians to ensure the young adults voice is heard at all levels of the organisation. The YA PSWs will support the team in the development of a Discovery college by inputting into a working group and co-facilitating courses.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
About us
Central and North West London NHS Trust expects the Young Adult Peer Support Worker to act in a way which shows an understanding of our core values and is active in putting them into practice with service users, their friends, family and 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 diversity of each individual, recognition of uniqueness.
EMPOWERMENT: commitment to providing information, resources and support to help others make their own decisions and meet their own needs. The Trust endeavours to support all staff to enable them to develop and grow.
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
To find out more about working in CAMHSCLICK HEREfor our video.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To work with the multi-disciplinary team in order to support young people accessing CAMHS or moving from CAMHS to Adult Mental Health Services.
- To assume a coaching role supporting young people in developing their personal recovery plans; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
- To assist young people to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals.
- To provide opportunities for young people to direct their own recovery process alongside the team and their families/parents/carers.
- To facilitate the young person in moving through and beyond CAMHS services.
- To support young people that are moving from CAMHS services to Adult Mental Health Services, drawing on their own lived experience of making this transition and ensuring that the young person is kept informed and involved at every stage of this.
- To support young people in making sense of their experiences of mental and emotional distress. This might include understandings of personal and social recovery, health and wellbeing, personal and social identity whilst recognising that each individuals recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process, and being highly sensitive to their use of language and descriptions of experiences.
- To model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of recovery.
- To act as a role model to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person in recovery.
- To contribute to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multi-disciplinary team.
- To work together with the young person and their parents/carers in the drawing up of care plans, encouraging and motivating young people to take an active role in their own care plan.
- To assist young people in managing their mental health on a day to day basis including providing support with activities of daily living such as personal care and engaging in education and leisure activities.
- To positively promote and support young people in maintaining links with their communities, education and leisure activities by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting young people to access them.
- To assist in the development and implementation of educational and peer facilitated support groups and activities.
- To accompany young people to appointments, therapeutic or social community-based activities as appropriate.
- To young people in seeking to connect/ reconnect with family, friends, significant others and in learning how to improve or eliminate unhealthy friendships/relationships.
- To assist young people to maintain a connection with their life outside of services.
- To accept and respect young peoples personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.
- Support the development and running of a discovery college at CNWL.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To work with the multi-disciplinary team in order to support young people accessing CAMHS or moving from CAMHS to Adult Mental Health Services.
- To assume a coaching role supporting young people in developing their personal recovery plans; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
- To assist young people to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals.
- To provide opportunities for young people to direct their own recovery process alongside the team and their families/parents/carers.
- To facilitate the young person in moving through and beyond CAMHS services.
- To support young people that are moving from CAMHS services to Adult Mental Health Services, drawing on their own lived experience of making this transition and ensuring that the young person is kept informed and involved at every stage of this.
- To support young people in making sense of their experiences of mental and emotional distress. This might include understandings of personal and social recovery, health and wellbeing, personal and social identity whilst recognising that each individuals recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process, and being highly sensitive to their use of language and descriptions of experiences.
- To model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of recovery.
- To act as a role model to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person in recovery.
- To contribute to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multi-disciplinary team.
- To work together with the young person and their parents/carers in the drawing up of care plans, encouraging and motivating young people to take an active role in their own care plan.
- To assist young people in managing their mental health on a day to day basis including providing support with activities of daily living such as personal care and engaging in education and leisure activities.
- To positively promote and support young people in maintaining links with their communities, education and leisure activities by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting young people to access them.
- To assist in the development and implementation of educational and peer facilitated support groups and activities.
- To accompany young people to appointments, therapeutic or social community-based activities as appropriate.
- To young people in seeking to connect/ reconnect with family, friends, significant others and in learning how to improve or eliminate unhealthy friendships/relationships.
- To assist young people to maintain a connection with their life outside of services.
- To accept and respect young peoples personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.
- Support the development and running of a discovery college at CNWL.
Person Specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
- Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training
- Willingness to undertake or completion of Level 4 City University accredited course "Developing Expertise in Peer Support"
Desirable
- oCompleted an accredited peer support worker training
Experience
Essential
- Own personal lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges as a young person
- Own personal experience of accessing CAMHS and of moving from receiving care from CAMHS to receiving care from Adult Mental Health services.
- Paid or unpaid working experience in health and social care or participating in service development and participation groups
- Willing to positively share your own life experiences, personal experience of mental ill health with young people and their parents/carers/families
- Developed plans for managing own recovery
- Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work towards achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting (paid or unpaid)
Desirable
- Paid or unpaid peer support worker experience
- Paid or unpaid experience of working with children and young people
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Ability to demonstrate first person 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 relationships with young people and their parents/carers/families
- Effective listening skills
- 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
- Ability to demonstrate empathy, compassion and patience
- An ability to be non-judgemental
- An ability to act calmly and to respond in a professional manner to distress, disturbance and unpredictability
- Knowledge of how to build community links and networks
- Ability to problem solve and create innovative solutions to help empower young people and their families
- Understanding of issues arising from experiencing mental ill health as a young person
- Ability to work unsupervised in a range of settings
- Sensitive understanding of diversity issues and an ability to promote anti-discriminatory practice/ equal opportunities
- Ability to demonstrate practical skills to provide support with daily living activities
- Resilience
- Good organisational skills
- oEffective team player
Desirable
- Knowledge of basic food hygiene
- Knowledge of basic first aid
- Basic Health and Safety awareness
- Awareness of local services
- Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of mental health issues as they apply to young people
- Ability to speak other languages
Person Specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
- Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training
- Willingness to undertake or completion of Level 4 City University accredited course "Developing Expertise in Peer Support"
Desirable
- oCompleted an accredited peer support worker training
Experience
Essential
- Own personal lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges as a young person
- Own personal experience of accessing CAMHS and of moving from receiving care from CAMHS to receiving care from Adult Mental Health services.
- Paid or unpaid working experience in health and social care or participating in service development and participation groups
- Willing to positively share your own life experiences, personal experience of mental ill health with young people and their parents/carers/families
- Developed plans for managing own recovery
- Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work towards achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting (paid or unpaid)
Desirable
- Paid or unpaid peer support worker experience
- Paid or unpaid experience of working with children and young people
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Ability to demonstrate first person 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 relationships with young people and their parents/carers/families
- Effective listening skills
- 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
- Ability to demonstrate empathy, compassion and patience
- An ability to be non-judgemental
- An ability to act calmly and to respond in a professional manner to distress, disturbance and unpredictability
- Knowledge of how to build community links and networks
- Ability to problem solve and create innovative solutions to help empower young people and their families
- Understanding of issues arising from experiencing mental ill health as a young person
- Ability to work unsupervised in a range of settings
- Sensitive understanding of diversity issues and an ability to promote anti-discriminatory practice/ equal opportunities
- Ability to demonstrate practical skills to provide support with daily living activities
- Resilience
- Good organisational skills
- oEffective team player
Desirable
- Knowledge of basic food hygiene
- Knowledge of basic first aid
- Basic Health and Safety awareness
- Awareness of local services
- Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of mental health issues as they apply to young people
- Ability to speak other languages
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
