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An exciting opportunity has become available for a person with lived experience of autism to join our friendly and passionate team, helping to shape the peer support worker role and what we offer those we recently diagnosed as autistic.

The Tower Hamlets Autism Service (THAS) is a specialist diagnostic and brief intervention service. Designed in accordance with NICE guidelines, we accept referrals from any source when it is thought that an adult living in Tower Hamlets may have an autistic spectrum condition. We use screening tools and specialist assessments (ADOS-2) alongside clinical experience and expertise to diagnose autism spectrum condition in adults.

The service is a multidisciplinary team with speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, social work, clinical psychology, psychiatry, administration, and support work. The service aims to develop the provision and accessibility of support in Tower Hamlets to make it an autism friendly borough.

After diagnosis, we provide up to 12 sessions of autism specific interventions; we now are looking to include peer support work sessions (groups and one to one) in this. Through a local third sector partner (The Tower Project) support around employment is also available. In the future, we hope to provide a service for individuals with an existing diagnosis during periods of significant life transition.

• To provide formalised peer support and practical assistance to service users, working flexibly to meet individual needs.
• To assist service users to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals and support them to access and participate in activities which meet these whilst demonstrating acceptance of and respect towards service users' personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.
• To positively support living within their community through developing and maintaining extensive knowledge and links with local areas and/or in the area the individual service users wish to return to and actively supporting them to access these resources including acting as an escort, e.g., in relation to vocation, education and leisure.
• To act as a role model and mentor for autism using one's own experience to inspire hope in others; demonstrating coping skills, sharing life experiences and lessons learned where appropriate.
• To support safety effectively in line with policies and procedures. To ensure any concerns regarding an individual's wellbeing, including issues of safeguarding, are raised with senior members of the team.
• To participate in the promotion of the Peer Support Worker role and the delivery of activities to all services users and professionals within the team.

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

See the attached job description, job overview and main duties of the job in the main body of the advert.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact Felicity Bowden, Operational Lead, on 020 7426 2440 / felicity.bowden@nhs.net, or Sarah Paynter, Tower Hamlet Peer Support Worker Operational Lead, on sarah.paynter1@nhs.net

• Good written and spoken English
• Other relevant qualifications e.g. health and social care.

• Lived experience of autism or caring for an autistic adult/s and using autism services.
• Experience with working within a team, either paid or unpaid. (either mental health or non-mental health team).
• Prior experience (paid or unpaid) working in the health and social care sector or prior experience working with vulnerable adults.
• Prior experience, paid or unpaid, in peer support roles.

• Ability to work with service users on an individual or group basis to support them in their well-being.
• Ability to support the multidisciplinary team in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of mental and physical care.
• Ability to recognise stress in oneself and others and manage appropriately accessing additional support where necessary.
• Be able to respond with compassion towards clients when the behavior feels challenging
• Sound knowledge and understanding of common mental health problems and neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Ability to enable and empower patients in a way that increases their self-esteem, raises their confidence and help them to identify positive qualities in self.
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a team.
• Demonstrate a degree of emotional intelligence with the ability to understand self and service users, and reflect on this with the team.
• Demonstrate an awareness of how your own approach and communication style may impact on service users, their carers and members of your own team.
• Ability to think reflectively and communicate reflections which may support the progression of the team, role, or work with service users.

• Be motivated to continue learning and deliver high standards of care. I.E. developing knowledge regarding neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health.
• Be aware that the Trust has legal obligations to fulfil such as the equal opportunities policy.
• Be able to maintain motivation to deliver the highest standards of care in a service that faces constant change from internal and external sources.
• Understand that in the working environment all resources must be utilized as economically as possible.
• Be supportive in the Trust's commitment to research, clinical governance, clinical audit and clinical Assurance.
• Be able to work outside of 9-5pm hours once a month or occasionally as needed for groups and events.

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.

£30,546 to £32,207 a yearPer annum pro rata inc HCA