Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job ref
- 354-AE-21308
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Department of Psychiatry
- Town
- Eastbourne
- Salary
- £28,392 - £31,157 pa
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 25/06/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Peer Support Specialist
NHS AfC: Band 4
Come and join us
We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.
At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.
We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.
We recognise that tools like AI are becoming part of everyday life and you may choose to use them when preparing your application. We welcome this, as long as what you submit reflects your own experience, skills and voice. AI can be helpful for structuring or refining your answers, but it should not replace your own examples or create content that isn’t based on your real experience.
Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring. You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page.
We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.
Job overview
Peer Support Specialist - inpatients services
Do you have expertise from your own lived experience of mental health? Have you experience of working in peer support in a similar setting?
We are recruiting a new peer support specialist role to work at the Department of Psychiatry in Eastbourne. These roles involve working with patients during their inpatient stay and as they plan to leave the ward and across the transition to other care.
Please note: You must have relevant lived experience of managing your own mental health to be shortlisted for this role, and the peer support skills and experience to use it in an acute setting.
A new hospital in Bexhill will replace our inpatient services at the Department of Psychiatry. This means that, if you are successful in your application, you will be asked to transfer to the new location when they open later in 2026.
Main duties of the job
Peer Support Specialists will work alongside patients at all stages of their inpatient stay. You will be delivering peer-led groups and activities, while offering more structured peer support with patients on admission, during their stay and where possible, for a set time after discharge, linking them with peer support in other services, VCSE and statutory.
As part of the clinical team, peer support specialists can support collaborative care planning and review, enabling these processes to be more accessible and inclusive. Peer support on the wards will enable patients to be heard and more involved in the service provision and improvement.
Working for our organisation
There is a strong professional network for peer support staff across the Trust with a bespoke peer training package, peer supervision and mentorship offered alongside regular clinical supervision and line management within teams. Our peer support staff also have networks for peer to peer learning and support.
In return for your skills and enthusiasm, we can offer you interesting and rewarding work that makes a difference, as well as providing excellent learning opportunities.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Peer Support workers engage with mental health service users to show empathy, share lived experience, inspire hope and promote recovery.
Peer support is delivered through mutuality, empowerment and choice and giving the opportunity for the exploration of meaning and purpose.
Peer support is part of our multi-disciplinary offer and supervision is regularly provided to support the work.
In this role as a Peer Support Specialist you will be working at a more independent level, and may have the opportunity to guide and mentor less experiences peer support workers. You will be part of a community of practice where you will have the opportunity to contribute to the learning and direction of our develop programme of peer support.
Person specification
QUALIFICATIONS
Essential criteria
- Health care or relevant NVQ Level 3 or equivalent skills acquired through experience or formal teaching qualification
- A recognised Peer Support qualification
- Evidence of a commitment to lifelong learning
KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE
Essential criteria
- Significant experience of providing peer support to people with mental health needs in a paid or voluntary capacity in health/social care setting
- Experience of working with groups and running activities
- Experience of supervising or mentoring others
- Lived experience of mental health issues/difficulties
- Managing personal mental health and recovery
- Comprehensive knowledge of Peer Support, Recovery and Wellbeing in mental health and ability to apply this throughout your work
- Experience of seeking support in role and using peer leadership to guide practice
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
- Darren Plant
- Job title
- Matron
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07823533958
- Additional information
We strongly encourage informal visits and/or a phone conversation about the service and this post. Please contact Darren Plant on the contact details provided.
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