Peer Support Worker - IPS (Employment support)

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Aylesbury; Hybrid; GBP 18,000 - 28,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave

NHS Discount

Competitive pension scheme

Cycle to work scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Peer Support Worker with lived experience to support individuals accessing mental health services in Buckinghamshire. The role involves empathetic, person-centred support and participation in both one-to-one and group activities, guided by recovery principles.

You will be trained for the role and may complete a national recognised care certificate. Part-time, 22.5 hours per week with flexible days discussed at interview.

Qualifications

• Lived experience of mental health challenges or caring for someone with mental health challenges.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Compassionate team player with motivation to support service users.

Responsibilities

• Support service users to engage with care and access appropriate services.
• Use active listening to inspire hope and validate feelings.
• Build trusting relationships to provide regular one-to-one and group support.
• Promote independent living and recovery journeys through role-modelling.
• Maintain the service user’s needs at the center of practice.

Skills

Lived experience

Communication skills

Compassionate

Job description

Do you have prior lived experience of mental health challenges? Have you ever benefited from using employment support services?

This advert is recruiting for a Peer Support Worker (PSW) within the Oxford Health Buckinghamshire Individual Placement & Support Service (IPS).

Peer Support Workers are people who have their own lived experience of mental health challenges or have supported/cared for someone with mental health challenges. They use empathy informed by their own experiences to support service users/families who are accessing mental health services. Peer Support Workers model the recovery principles together with personal responsibility, self-awareness and self-care whilst undertaking the duties of the role.

The IPS service knows that being in employment can positively impact a person’s recovery and wellbeing. The Individual Placement & Support service supports people receiving care from Oxford Health mental health teams who are unemployed and motivated to find paid employment, or whose current employment is at risk. This is a part-time role for 22.5 hours per week. Please discuss preferred working days/hours at interview.

We’re looking for people who are compassionate, can work well in a team, highly motivated and have excellent written and verbal communication skills. You will be provided with training for the role and given the opportunity to complete the national recognised care certificate.

Oxford Health offer the Peer Support Training programme as a nationally recognised accredited Level 3 Apprenticeship (fully funded by Oxford Health) for those that are eligible and interested in completing a qualification in addition to their in-house training. Please let us know at interview if this is an opportunity you would like to learn more about.

Lived Experience

• To support service users to engage effectively with care being offered and access appropriate services
• Drawing upon lived experience & using active listening to inspire hope, offer empathy, empowerment, confidence building & validate a service users’ feelings
• To build relationships that are founded on the value of mutuality which will facilitate the provision of regular and practical support, both one to one and via group facilitation, to service users in developing and managing independence and maintaining dignity and self-respect
• To positively promote independent living of service users through role-modelling individual recovery journeys
• To have the individual service user’s needs always at the forefront of the PSW’s practice and to use the skills incorporated in the Peer Support Training to underpin their practice

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Shelley Monaghan Job title: Operational Service Manager Email address: [e-mail] Telephone number: 07500 785061

At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.