Job summary
- Main area
- Deaf Services
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Job ref
- 186-969-26-MH
- Employer
- Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Stonebridge Centre
- Town
- Nottingham
- Salary
- £25,760 - £27,476 Per annum, pro rata for part time
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/11/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Deaf Peer Support Worker
Band 3
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Job overview
We are seeking a Deaf Peer Support Worker to join our team, with a dedicated focus on supporting deaf individuals who experience mental health challenges. Deaf Mental Health Services is a specialist provision offering tailored support to people who are deaf and require mental health care that meets their communication and cultural needs.
An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Adult Mental Health (AMH) Deaf Service for a Deaf Peer Support Worker. In this role, you will be part of a multi-disciplinary team based at the Stonebridge Centre, with responsibilities that extend across Nottinghamshire.
As part of your development, you will be required and fully supported to complete the Peer Support Foundation Training shortly after your induction. You will also have access to regular peer-informed supervision, alongside the standard supervision and support available within the wider team.
Main duties of the job
This role plays a vital part in reducing stigma, promoting inclusion, and ensuring that the voice of lived experience shapes the development and delivery of mental health services.
Key responsibilities include:
• Supporting individuals to identify, define, and work towards their personal recovery goals, using a strengths‑based and person‑centred approach.
• Helping service users prepare for appointments, ensuring they feel confident and informed, and supporting them to process information afterwards.
• Promoting self‑advocacy, empowerment, and recovery‑focused approaches, enabling individuals to take an active role in their care.
• Drawing on your own lived experience to offer understanding, hope, and practical guidance in a safe and professional way.
• Working in line with the Peer Support Worker Competency Framework, ensuring high standards of practice, professionalism, and peer‑informed values.
Working for our organisation
#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic, and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire & South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.
We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire biggest employers. We also host national and regional services, such as the National High Secure Deaf Service and the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.
We offer a variety of employee-led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.
The health and wellbeing of colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in-house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.
The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net-zero commitment.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Experiencing mental distress can be isolating and overwhelming, particularly for deaf individuals who may also face communication barriers, cultural misunderstandings, or stigma within their communities. The Deaf Peer Support Worker role has been developed specifically for people with lived experience of both deafness and mental distress. By drawing on this unique combination of experiences, Deaf Peer Support Workers offer empathy, cultural understanding, and hope demonstrating that recovery is possible.
In this role, you will provide peer support alongside practical assistance, helping people regain control of their lives and shape their own recovery journey. Through relationships built on mutuality, shared experience, and accessible communication, you will promote choice, self‑determination, and opportunities for meaningful connection within local deaf and wider communities.
You will also act as a recovery champion within the team and an ambassador for recovery‑focused practice across the Trust and partner organisations. As part of the developing peer workforce, you will be encouraged to invest in your own personal and professional development and contribute to the ongoing growth of peer roles within the Trust.
Key Responsibilities
• Establish supportive, culturally informed relationships with deaf people using mental health services and their families, grounded in the core principles of peer support (mutual, reciprocal, strengths‑focused, safe, progressive, non‑directive, recovery‑focused, and inclusive).
• Share your own lived experience of deafness and mental health recovery to build trust, connection, and understanding, while maintaining professional boundaries.
• Use active listening and accessible communication methods (including BSL or preferred communication modes) to help individuals develop self‑understanding and identify their personal recovery goals.
• Support people to work towards the goals they have identified for themselves, offering encouragement, practical guidance, and hope.
• Role‑model recovery, personal responsibility, and self‑awareness, demonstrating that positive change is achievable.
• Promote recovery‑focused and inclusive language across the service by modelling strengths‑based, non‑discriminatory, non‑medicalised communication in all interactions.
• Champion deaf awareness and culturally appropriate practice, helping colleagues understand the experiences, barriers, and strengths within the deaf community.
• Work collaboratively with the wider multi‑disciplinary team, contributing a lived‑experience perspective to service development and delivery.
• Maintain clear, strengths‑focused clinical records, ensuring accessibility and accuracy.
• Work in line with the Peer Support Worker Competency Framework, upholding the values and standards of peer practice.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £20.00 (standard) or £41.00 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.
You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £15 per year applies.
Person specification
Qualifications - Academic / Craft / Professional
Essential criteria
- Native BSL user or Level 3 or above
Desirable criteria
- Level of educational attainment to NVQ 3/AS Level or equivalent Mental Health related qualification i.e. Certificate in Community Mental Health or equivalent
Contractual Requirements
Essential criteria
- Must be able to travel to a range of locations by own or by public transport
Desirable criteria
- Car user
Dispositional attributes
Essential criteria
- Positive and recovery focussed attitude to supporting others and working within teams Range of life experiences Ability to use initiative Reliable Able to work in a flexible way Resourceful and creative Good organisational skills including time management Supportive to other colleagues Able to demonstrate a patient, non-judgmental, respectful and compassionate attitude
Training
Essential criteria
- Completion of, or willingness to complete Peer Support Worker Training Completion of own wellness plan (there is no expectation for this to be shared)
Desirable criteria
- Level of educational attainment to NVQ 3/AS Level or equivalent Mental Health related qualification ie. Certificate in Community Mental Health or equivalent Willingness to undertake further training in line with the development of peer support
Experience
Essential criteria
- Lived experience of mental distress and recovery Experience of being in a supportive and enabling role
Desirable criteria
- Experience of being supported by a community mental health team Experience of working in a healthcare setting Experience of working in a team Experience of training, teaching, coaching/mentoring others Experience of using a range of self-management or recovery tools and techniques Experience of working across different organisational boundaries
Physical requirements
Essential criteria
- Manual handling which may include maneuvering of wheelchairs/trolleys/beds etc. as needed Break away and de-escalation techniques
Desirable criteria
- Manual handling which may include maneuvering of wheelchairs/trolleys/beds etc. as needed Break away and de-escalation techniques
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to use personal experiences to support others and demonstrate empathy Active listening skills Ability to reflect on experiences and working practice personally and in group settings Awareness of and ability to use written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills Willingness to use the Trust IT systems Able to build inclusive relationships with a wide range of people Approachable appearance and behaviour Able to create a safe environment and use techniques to reduce anxiety and understand conflict Ability to maintain a home/work life balance which feels healthy Ability to work within a team Ability to work in an enabling and creative way, where the person is the expert in their own recovery Willingness to support people in ways which they choose to meet their recovery goals Ability to carry out practical tasks
Desirable criteria
- Strong BSL user
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Understanding of the core principles or values of peer support Personal understanding of how to manage stress and when to access support
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of community resources
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Michael Colton
- Job title
- Specialist Lead for Deaf Services
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07471727883
- Additional information
Queens Building, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S80 2AH
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
Duncan Macmillan House
Porchester Road
Mapperley
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG3 6AA
- Telephone
- 0115 667 0369
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