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Job summary

Main area
Peer Support Worker
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Part time
  • Flexible working
12.5 hours per week
Job ref
311-F653-24-A
Employer
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Learning Disabilities Care Hub
Town
Bury
Salary
£22,816 - £24,336 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
07/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust logo

Peer Support Worker

NHS AfC: Band 3

About the Trust

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We’re really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we’re a great place to work.

Our ambition is to maximise people’s potential and we aim to promote an inclusive environment and improve the diversity of our workforce so our people truly represent the communities we serve.  

All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post.  We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.

If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:

  1. Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
  2. Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
  3. Access to Continued Professional Development
  4. Involvement in improvement and research activities
  5. Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
  6. Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel

If you are Kind, Fair, Ingenious and Determined then we want you to come and join our #PennineCarePeople

https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/values

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for Peer Support Workers to come and join our Learning Disability Care Hub.  We are recruiting Peer Support Workers because of their lived experience and their desire, motivation, and enthusiasm to support and encourage others on their individual journey. A Peer Support Worker is someone who draws upon and shares their own experiences of learning disability and accessing health and wellbeing support and / or using mental health services to inspire, model, and inform others in similar situations and support them in finding their own path to wellbeing. It is through this trusting relationship, which offers companionship, empathy, and empowerment that feelings of isolation and rejection can be replaced with hope, and a belief in personal control and working together.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for people who have lived and living experience to come and join the Learning Disability Care Hub to help make improvements and support our service users, families and their carers.

Do you have experience of using learning disability services? Would you like to use these experiences and share them to support other people with a learning disability and their families receiving services? If so, we would welcome applications for our Peer Support Worker roles.  We have included a CV template to support you in making a job application for this post.

Our Peer Support Workers will receive support and training to help them be part of a team being actively involved in making service improvements.

To be a Peer Support Worker you must:

  • Have a learning disability.
  • Be able to use your lived experience to support people with a learning disability.
  • Be able to work with staff to plan and run groups and activities.
  • Be able to help us make our services better.

Working for our organisation

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.

The Learning Disabilities Care Hub provides the following services:

  • Community Learning Disability Teams
  • Radcliffe Place – Admissions Avoidance for people across Greater Manchester
  • Cambeck Close – Short Stay Respite Breaks

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We’re really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we’re a great place to work.

All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of learning disability.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information please see the Job Description and Personal Specification.  These are available in Easy Read. Please go to  Peer support workers :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust where you can find Easy Read versions of the Job Description and Person Specification, alongside a CV Template.  

  • To be the expert by experience, to work collaboratively to support the care hub to deliver a range of support focused interventions for people who use community learning disability services with the aim of helping them live a meaningful life.
  • Help individuals identify their own achievable and meaningful goals and set objectives.
  • Assist individuals in creating a care plan to maintain their health and wellbeing and achieve their agreed goals and outcomes.
  • Ensure service users goals are integrated into wider processes and are reviewed on a regular basis, liaising with the care team, as necessary.
  • To communicate effectively with individuals and their
  • To act as a positive role model showing professional and caring attitudes and behavior towards other team members, service users and carer's.
  • Model personal responsibility, self-awareness, self-belief, self-advocacy, and hopefulness via the telling of own story to inspire and instill confidence.
  • To practice a non-discriminatory, non-jargon, and non- medicalised language in all areas of work.
  • Participating as co-facilitator on more structured and formal group-based
  • Through your interaction with service users advise the care staff of changes in health and wellbeing presentation and risk.
  • Close liaison with clinical areas, Multi-Disciplinary Teams, Local Authority services, education and third sector.
  • Prioritise, manage, and monitor own workload and handle the day-to-day organisation of workload with the support of Team Manager.
  • Provide activities and support to a defined group of service users with varying
  • To be available for 1:1 sessions with service users when not engaged in structured / planned activities.
  • To support and encourage the development of user led services, e.g. drop-in, self -advocacy and other social groups in community settings with the support and involvement of NHS, Local Authority and Third Sector agencies.
  • Share and support individuals to develop coping, self-help, and self-management techniques.
  • Use own initiative, personal experience, and job-related training in deciding on the approach and interventions required when working with a service user in delivering peer support with supervision from the multi-disciplinary team.
  • Document relevant information on recording system, ensuring compliance with data governance guidance
  • To always maintain confidentiality of information regarding service users and carer's.
  • To be involved in aspects of service development, co-delivery of training and research across the care hub

Person specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • A basic level of literacy which will be supported in the workplace
  • Good level of secondary education
  • Willingness to work toward attainment of Level 3 or equivalent in relevant subject
Desirable criteria
  • Evidence of working in a voluntary role

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Own personal relevant lived experience of learning disability services
  • Own personal experience of accessing community learning disability health services
  • Willing to positively share your own life experiences, personal experience of learning disability with service users and carers
  • Personal lived experience of navigating health services and understanding of managing own health needs
  • Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work towards achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting (paid or unpaid).
  • Ability to motivate and model to others to meet their health and wellbeing needs.

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Able to demonstrate understanding of Peer Support.

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria
  • Ability to demonstrate knowledge of personal recovery.
  • Evidence of good interpersonal skills and an ability to form peer relationships with service users and carers
  • Effective listening skills.
  • Ability to demonstrate empathy, compassion and patience
  • 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 and have an understanding of diversity issues.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to respecting and displaying the Trust values at all times.
Desirable criteria
  • Basic levels of written literacy and numeracy.
  • Basic IT Skills

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Veteran AwareNo smoking policyDisability confident employer

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jeremy Bentham
Job title
Associate Director for Learning Disabilities
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0161 716 1575
Additional information

Click here to watch a short animation summarising the key benefits of the roles.

Please go  Peer support workers :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust where you can find Easy Read versions of the Job Description and Person Specification, alongside a CV Template. 

You can send any CV's to Jeremy Bentham  at [email protected] or Claire Lilley at [email protected] 

Want to know more?

We will be holding a virtual session on MS Teams. and you are welcome to join us if you have any questions about the role of Peer Support Worker.  If you would like to join please email Claire who will send you an invitation to one of the sessions

If you have problems applying, contact

Address
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
225 Old Street
225 Old Street
OL6 7SR
Telephone
01617163181
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