Peer Support Worker

We have an opportunity for a Peer Support Worker, who has a lived experience  to join our well-established and friendly team at the Access Community Mental Health team.

A Peer Support Worker is someone who will have been on their own recovery journey and explicitly draws upon and share their lived experiences of recovery from mental health challenges, and tells their own recovery story, to inspire hope, model recovery and inform service users, as well as supporting service users in finding their own path to recovery.

Peer Support Workers are an early point of contact for people in Wiltshire who contact Access Mental Health via our Wellbeing Line for support and advice. You will share elements of your personal journey to inspire others and to work in a relatable way and build on peoples hopes and strengths.

This a new opportunity to have a direct influence on how services are provided in Wiltshire and be part of a dynamic team that is working towards breaking down barriers and ensuring people get the right support at the right time.

If you, would you like to work for a leading mental health charity in a rewarding role where you will really make a difference, then join us here at Rethink Mental Illness.

Your role will be a field-based position where you will be based at our office in Semington and be required to travel across Wiltshire. You will work full time, 35 hours per week on a fixed term contract with a salary of £21,216 per annum. You can read more about the rewards you will receive on the full advert on our website.

How will you make a difference?

You will:

• share your own personal experiences of recovery and coping with mental illness to build connection and provide support to service users
• support people in person and on our Wellbeing Line
• enable and encourage service users to find out about local services and facilities within their community and enable access to alternative services where specific needs are identified
• keep up to date and accurate records
• use the recovery model to develop self-confidence and move towards the persons identified goals
• work flexibly, in the community and remotely to meet the service needs, responding to referrals within in service timeframes
• provide appropriate support to carers and relatives
• encourage people to recognise, understand and manage factors that affect their mental wellbeing and physical health 
• challenge the stigma and difficulties around access to services for people with mental illness
• take calls from a wide range of people at different stages in tehri recovery journey
• proactively contribute to continuously improving the service by making positive suggestions, providing constructive feedback and assisting in the implementation of agreed new ways of working 
• support people to express their views with the opportunities they have accessed by submitting comments, compliments or complaints
• encourage and facilitate the involvement of service users and carers in the development of the services in an advisory or volunteer capacity
• monitor and report to senior staff on the effectiveness of support delivery and contract performance

Who I am?

I have the essentials covered:

• I will support people in working towards their goals and give feedback to other members of the team any changes that have occurred
• I will monitor the emotional wellbeing of people we support and update records, support plan and log incidents on our database when any changes occur
• I have experience of partnership working, negotiation and liaison work with other agencies
• I have excellent written and verbal communication skills, tailored to a variety of audiences
• Have excellent listening skills, creating an environment which puts people who use our service at ease and enables them to express what is important to them
• I am resilient, proficient, creative, adaptable and open, trauma-informed
• I work flexibly and proactively with partners
• I am able to reflect on my own practice and how work impacts on me
• I am able raise appropriate issues and concerns with my line manager in a timely way
•  

*Appointments will be at the minimum of the band.

*London Allowance is paid for roles that are based within the Greater London area only.

We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. 

Please see further details on our website

You can also follow us on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram and LinkedIn to find out more about the work we do!

Don’t meet all requirements?

If the role sounds exciting to you but your experience, skills or qualifications don’t exactly match every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply, you may be just the right person for our position!

Caring for our people.  

We offer a wide range of support. Some of our benefits include:  

• PULSE: our recognition, rewards, wellbeing, and benefits platform. Providing access to thousands of discounts and benefits including cashback; reloadable cards; savings etc. As well as being able to thank colleagues and nominate them for awards. 
• Wagestream: gives you instant access to up to 50% of your pay. Also provides a library of expert tools, tips and articles plus, helps you start building a rainy-day pot straight from your salary.
• Wellbeing support: our Wellbeing hub gives physical, emotional, and mental health support. We also have a BUPA Employee Assistance Programme with access to appointments. 
• Taking time for you: we work flexibly –you get to choose where you work, managing your own diary. We have generous annual leave, starting at 25 rising to 30 days, plus bank holidays, as well as your birthday off. We also offer the opportunity to buy and sell annual leave. 
• Planning for the future: We have a contributory pension scheme. 
• Structured Corporate Induction: Onboarding you into the Charity supporting your wellbeing along the way. 
• £300 when you introduce a Friend: receive up to £300 when you introduce a friend or family member. 

Who are we? 

We’re Rethink Mental Illness, a leading charity provider of mental health services in England. We support thousands of people through our groups, services, policy, campaigns and advice and information. Our work supports us in delivering on our mission: “A better life for everyone severely affected by mental illness.”  

It is an exciting time to join our growing charity. We are on a transformation journey, one that supports the delivery of the organisation strategy – delivering Communities that Care. Supporting employees, managers and leaders through this change is a key priority for the People function. Just like its key that we attract diverse people to come and work for us.  

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer.  We recognise and support staff networks for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic and our LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrate our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or questioning), Intersex and (asexual) (LGBTQIA+), people with a disability, and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Please contact The Recruitment Advisor looking after this role - Shazii Bashir. If you have any questions about the position, please feel free to email recruitment@rethink.org 

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