Peer Support Worker

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Aylesbury; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a role that recognises lived experience of the criminal justice system and recovery from addiction and mental health challenges. The post emphasizes awareness of boundaries, listening and communication with service users, carers and partners, and the need to sustain recovery and wellbeing.

The successful candidate will work across sites with flexibility and a commitment to inclusion.

Qualifications

• Willingness to share personal experiences in an appropriate way and maintain clear boundaries.
• Empathy, patience, and sensitivity to be able to support people whilst maintaining boundaries.
• Willingness to seek support and guidance.

Skills

Listening skills

Communication skills

Sharing personal experiences

Boundary setting

Recovery-focused approach

Education

Care Certificate training

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The "must haves" for this role:

• • Must have lived experience of the criminal justice system
• • Must have direct lived experience and being stable in recovery from an addiction, mental ill health or other vulnerabilities

**please make explicit reference to both of these within your personal statement in order to be shortlisted for this role**

• • Must have an awareness of modelling appropriate behaviours, having the capacity to cope when unsupervised; setting clear boundaries and seeking support and guidance to support and protect own recovery, health and wellbeing
• • Must have good listening skills and effective communication skills; to be able to engage appropriately with service users, carers, and colleagues, and partnership agencies.

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it's important that examples and responses given in your supporting statement genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.

In addition to explaining how you meet the person specification, you must complete your employment history for at least the last five years. Any experience, skills or responsibilities referenced in your supporting statement should be evidenced within your employment history. Applications that do not include sufficient employment history to support the experience claimed may not be shortlisted.

We're committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Stonewall Proud Employer, Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don't hesitate to call: Lucy Bashir on 07584 556 882 or email: [e-mail] who'll be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Person specification

Continuous Professional Development

Essential criteria

• Willingness to undertake Care Certificate training.

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Lived experience of the criminal justice system a minimum of being arrested and taken into police custody and demonstratable recovery of a minimum of 1 year of no longer being in-contact with criminal justice system.
• Required to demonstrate a recovery capital and period of desistance 1-3yrs from using substance (inc alcohol) and a minimum of one year completing any licence conditions/requirements

Desirable criteria

• Having direct lived experience of recovery from substance misuse, mental health or other vulnerabilities.

Knowledge, skills and abilities

Essential criteria

• Willingness to share personal experiences in an appropriate way and maintain clear boundaries
• Empathy, patience, and sensitivity to be able to support people whilst maintaining boundaries.
• Willingness to seek support and guidance.

Additional Requirements

Essential criteria

• To be a UK citizen or have the right to remain status.
• Flexibility to travel to all sites.

Our Trust's vision is 'To be a great place to get care, a great place to give care.'

This vision guides everything we do - for our patients, their carers, their families, our staff, and our partners. To achieve it, we are committed to a strong set of values that underpin the way we work:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority - we put people at the centre of everything we do.
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services - we strive for excellence in care and in our ways of working.
• Working together with you to develop innovative solutions - we collaborate with patients, carers, colleagues, and communities to deliver care that makes a difference.

These values are brought to life through our four Trust Behaviours, which are essential to how we work and the culture we create:

• Compassionate - Motivated to positively impact the wellbeing of self and others.
• Curious - Listening, learning and exploring new ideas and ways of working to continually improve what we do.
• Inclusive - Valuing diversity and championing equity by ensuring everyone feels recognised. able to contribute and committed to actively addressing unfairness.
• Perseverance - Demonstrates resilience and flexibility even during periods of uncertainty, to achieve goals that contribute to high-quality care and services.

At Berkshire Healthcare, we foster an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs.