Senior Peer Worker

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; North East; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in the North East is recruiting a Senior Peer Worker to supervise peer practitioners and support service users in Durham & Darlington. Responsibilities include providing peer support, facilitating group sessions, and contributing to service user advocacy. We seek someone with firsthand experience of mental health challenges and relevant training. This permanent, full-time position offers a salary ranging from £31,049 to £37,796, alongside a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Experience with mental health challenges relevant to the role.
• Experience in peer support delivery in a community or NHS setting.
• Ability to manage a caseload and priority effectively.

Responsibilities

• Supervising and mentoring support workers.
• Providing peer support autonomously.
• Contributing to team meetings for service user advocacy.

Skills

Compassionate engagement

Communication of complex information

Peer relationship skills

Ability to lead peer support group sessions

Education

Degree level education or equivalent experience

Trust approved Peer Support Training

Job description

Job summary

Job summary

Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust are pleased to announce that we are currently recruiting a Senior Peer Worker to work into Durham & Darlington Community Rehabilitation Services. The role will be based at Lanchester Road Hospital but will also work into Teesside Community Rehabilitation Services at Lustrum Vale, Stockton, to provide supervision for Peer Practitioners based there.

Peer support is when people with shared experiences connect to build safe, trusting and non-judgemental relationships where we learn and grow together. Peer Workers are people who have experience of mental health challenges and accessing services for mental health care, and are employed, trained and supported to work to the TEWV Peer Support Values and use their experiences to support others.

For these roles, we are looking for people who have :

Personal experience of mental health challenges, autism, and / or a learning disability

Personal experience of accessing secondary or inpatient / tertiary mental health, autism and / or learning disability services

• Experience of working as a peer worker or in another lived experience essential role

Experience of delivering peer support in a paid or voluntary role

Experience in delivering supervision or co-supervision to peers

Main duties of the job

These are challenging but rewarding roles supervising peer workers and supporting service users with a wide range of experiences.

Your time in post will start with attending our peer support training alongside other people starting peer support roles with us. This training is delivered by people with their own lived experience who also have direct experience of working in peer roles themselves.

From there your work will involve :

• Delivering 1 : 1 supervision to peer practitioners and peer workers
• Facilitating co-reflection and debrief spaces for peer practitioners and peer workers
• Providing 1 : 1 peer support to service users (this may involve supporting carers at times too where appropriate), while autonomously managing your own caseload.
• Setting up and facilitating / co-facilitating carer peer support groups
• Attending and contributing to team meetings to help ensure carers and service users' voices are heard, that their needs are advocated for, and to bring lived experience expertise into team processes.
• Contributing to service development. This involves promoting peer support work, offering ideas, feedback and lived experience perspectives.
• Building connections with a range of people and organisations within the system (including other peer support workers / providers).

To support you with this work you will receive ongoing regular 1 : 1 and group supervision and will be able to access a range of other peer connection and support structures.

About us

We value diversity and want to have a wide range of identities represented in the peer workforce. We welcome applications from people with lived experience of distress and mental health services from the characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation) and other diverse groups.

We also value a diversity of experiences with mental health services in the peer workforce and welcome applications from people with helpful, difficult or mixed experiences of mental health services.

Please note this recruitment takes place over a number of stages :

1. Written Applications : The first stage involves submitting your written application through our system. We will review these applications and shortlist a limited number of candidates to move on to the next stage.
2. Individual Interviews : In the final stage, we conduct individual interviews to determine which candidates will be offered the position.

Details

Date posted

26 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

346-DDA-171-25-A

Job locations

Lanchester Road Hospital

Lanchester Road

Durham

DH1 5RD

Job description

Job responsibilities

This role will involve supervising and mentoring support workers, and working under the professional leadership of the relevant peer co-ordinator or lead.

This role will involve working to support service users (and sometimes carers) both 1 : 1 and in groups as appropriate. Drawing on your own experience of caring for those with mental health challenges, you will walk alongside others on their journey in a supportive peer relationship built on our core peer values of authenticity, relationship, validation, respect, mutuality, and empowerment. You will listen non-judgmentally to create safe spaces where people feel heard. You will approach the peer relationship with compassion and curiosity. You will recognise and value peoples strengths, diversity, and expertise in themselves. You will be aware of the impacts of trauma and committed to the importance of working in ways which are sensitive to the needs of trauma survivors.

You also will be an integrated and valued member of the team. This role involves contributing peer values and the knowledge, skills and expertise that come with lived experience of mental health challenges and using mental health services. Important parts of this role also include working within the team to help service users voices be heard, to advocate for their needs, and to promote recovery values and trauma informed approaches. Peers will be supported to challenge both individual and structural instances of stigma and discrimination related to mental health and other forms of exclusion.

Please see the uploaded job description or approach us for an informal chat if you would like further details on the post.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level OR has equivalent experience developing and delivering Peer Support in a community or NHS setting.
• Completed Trust approved Peer Support Training
• Numeracy, Literacy and ITQ level 2 (or equivalent)

Desirable

• Completed Trust Trauma Informed Peer Support Course
• Completed an accredited Peer Support training course

Experience

Essential

• Personal experience of mental health challenges or a learning disability that is relevant to the specific role advertised
• Personal experience of accessing secondary (or inpatient) mental health services
• Experience of working as a peer worker or in another lived experience essential role
• Experience of delivering peer support in a paid or voluntary role, or in a user led environment
• Experience in delivering supervision or co-supervision to peers
• Experience of actively engaging in a supervision or co-supervision system

Desirable

• Experience of social exclusion, stigma and / or discrimination
• Psychiatric hospital admission
• Experience preparing workplace teams for peer support workers
• Experience in recruiting peer support workers
• Experience of delivering training sessions on peer support

Knowledge

Essential

• Passionate about the values of peer support and understands what the role adds to a team
• Understanding of trauma informed approaches
• Understanding of the day to day issues effecting service users with mental health conditions or learning disabilities
• Understanding of the needs of individuals from diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds

Skills

Essential

• Able to share elements of own life experiences, and engage compassionately with experiences of others, in a way appropriate to the role and peer relationship
• Communicate complex and sensitive information in a manner appropriate to the individual and situation
• Good peer relationship skills and ability to describe such skills verbally and in writing
• Ability to relate as a peer to the needs of the service user group
• Work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Manage own caseload and prioritise effectively
• Ability to lead peer support group sessions

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Commitment to supporting service users voices to be heard
• Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice
• Able to work in accordance with the Staff Compact and Trust Values and Behaviours