Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Perinatal Specialist Peer Support Worker
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Job Overview
The role of Perinatal Specialist Peer Support Worker (Perinatal SpPSW) has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of recovery from perinatal mental health challenges. In the context of Westminster Perinatal Mental Health Services, postholders will have experienced recovery from perinatal mental health challenges and accessed support through a perinatal mental health service in relation to this. Through sharing wisdom from their own experiences, Perinatal SpPSW inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible in others.
Using recovery principles and socially inclusive practice, the post-holder will support service users in their personal recovery journeys through the Perinatal Mental Health Service. This means providing peer support for mums who experience similar mental health and social needs during the perinatal period. They will foster a relationship of mutuality and information sharing, to promote choice, self-determination, opportunities and hope. They will raise awareness about local resources and opportunities that may assist people in maintaining their recovery. They will encourage and support service users to use community and children’s resources that are available to them, and support the Perinatal Service with developing links with these resources. They will act as an advocate for recovery within the team and an ambassador for recovery for the Trust and with partner agencies.
Main duties of the job
As a core member of the multi-disciplinary team, the PSW will work with service users on a 1:1 and/or group basis. They will also have the opportunity to co-work with other colleagues.
The PSW will promote their role, through the provision of information and a range of learning opportunities for the multidisciplinary teams and others across Westminster.
The PSW will develop partnership working within the local community as well as with third sector organisations.
Please note: This vacancy does not meet the criteria for Skilled Worker sponsorship, unless you meet the criteria by temporary exemption from current changes to immigration rules put in force on 22/07/2025. “Separate provisions are applied to workers who have been sponsored and continuously held a Skilled Worker visa since prior to 04/04/2024."
As such, if you don’t meet the Transitional Provision (above) we are unable to consider your application unless you can provide documentary evidence of your right to work in the United Kingdom. If you believe you are eligible for sponsorship or already hold a valid right to work in the UK, please ensure you provide full details of your immigration status in the Pre-Screening Immigration section of your application form.
Please note role eligibility also depends on whether the role meets the salary threshold for the relevant occupational code (SOC CODE).
For further info please visit: Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK
Working for our organisation
CNWL is committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based treatment options and is a learning organisation which promotes staff competence and training and values clinical governance, audit and research.
Our values are:
- Compassion: Our staff will be led by compassion and embody the values of care outlined in our Staff Charter.
- Respect: We will respect and value the diversity of our patients, service users and staff, to create a respectful and inclusive environment, which recognises the uniqueness of each individual.
- Empowerment: We will involve, inform and empower our patients, service users, carers and their families to take an active role in the management of their illness and adopt recovery principles. We will ensure our staff receive appropriate direction and support, to enable them to develop and grow.
- Partnership: We will work closely with our many partners to ensure that our combined efforts are focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for the people we serve.
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Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
Clinical Responsibilities
- Establish supportive and respectful relationships with people using perinatal mental health services.
- Meet, welcome, introduce and orientate the service user, their carer and families to the service upon arrival.
- Model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate self-management skills and techniques, using own experience of recovery.
- Act as a role model to service users to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person in recovery.
- Skillfully use personal experience of recovery from perinatal mental health difficulties to help motivate patients.
- Assume a ‘coaching’ role supporting service users in developing personal recovery plans; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
- Support service users to develop Health and Wellbeing Plans, encouraging individuals to connect/reconnect with family, friends, significant others and in learning how to improve or eliminate unhealthy relationships.
- Promote social inclusion and engagement.
- Assist individuals in managing their mental health on a day to day basis including providing support with activities of daily living such as care of self, budgeting, personal care, caring for their home and leisure activities.
- Assist service users to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals; providing opportunities for service users to direct their own recovery process.
- Facilitate the individual to move through and beyond services.
- Contribute to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multidisciplinary team; encouraging the individual to co-produce care plans and risk/safety management plans.
- Positively promote and support service users in the community by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting service users to access opportunities of their choice.
- Sign-post to various resources, opportunities and activities within the Trust and the community to promote choice and informed decision making.
- Accompany service users to appointments/meetings/activities of their choice and performing a range of practical tasks aligned to recovery goals.
- Accept and respect service users personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.
Communication
- Communicate with patients/clients and carers with empathy, reassurance and tact.
- Support the service user to prepare for meetings regarding their care e.g. assessments.
- Help service users to access information on health promotion, mental and physical wellbeing.
- Make notes of date, length and type of all contacts with services users in the locally agreed format.
- Ensure timely and accurate recording of clinical related data and information on the electronic patient record system.
- Monitor the service user’s progress, level of functioning & mental state, reporting progress and areas of concern to the multi-disciplinary team (verbally & on SystmOne, the electronic record keeping system).
- Report any untoward incidents or unusual occurrences to the manager/senior clinician immediately.
- Assist the service user to understand their rights and choices within the service.
- Maintain professional relationships with particular attention to confidentiality and the maintenance of boundaries.
- Act as an ambassador and develop stronger links and working partnerships with a range of external agencies including other NHS Trusts employing peer support workers and voluntary organisations.
- Promote the benefits of employment for those with ‘lived experience’ of overcoming mental health challenges.
- Challenge any inequalities and to address any discrimination whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation, modelling positive, strengths-based, non-discriminatory, non-jargon, non-medicalised language in all areas of work.
- Contribute to publications and conference presentations in relation to peer support and using ‘lived experience’; and liaise with other similar programmes that are developing throughout the country.
- Effectively co-produce and co-deliver learning and development activities which address the needs of external agencies in developing their peer support worker workforce; and which contributes to the peer support income generation programme.
- Work with the Trustwide Lived Experience Practitioner & Peer Support Lead to develop advice and guidance for mental health service providers re: the development and sustainability of peer support worker posts, including role definition.
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Workforce
- Effectively organise workload and management of own caseload, to meet local service requirements.
- Participate in departmental organisation and administrative duties as requested.
- Attend clinical, business & service development meetings as required.
- Support research activities, to ensure services are evidence-based where possible.
- Contribute to an agreed programme of audit and evaluation of team standards and quality benchmarks.
- Represent the peer support workforce and actively contribute to service, directorate, Trust and wider NHS groups.
- Participate in and deliver Recovery College Programmes when appropriate.
- Work with MDT colleagues to embed recovery focused practice within the team, delivering presentations as and when required.
Person specification
Training And Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work-based learning and mandatory training, (including accredited peer support worker training if not previously undertaken)
- Acceptable level of written literacy and numeracy
- Willingness to undertake or completion of Level 4 LSBU accredited course “Developing Expertise in Peer Support” course.
- Evidence of continuing professional and personal development
Desirable criteria
- Completed peer support worker training (preferably accredited)
- Evidence of further training in relation to personal recovery principles
- Accredited certificate in Life Coaching
Other
Essential criteria
- A preparedness to work flexible hours through prior arrangement as the needs of the job dictate (e.g. some evenings and weekends)
- Ability to travel between locations using own transport
Experience
Essential criteria
- Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery from perinatal mental health challenges
- Own personal experience of accessing secondary mental health services
- Experience of having personally accessed mental health services similar to the service they are applying to work in
- Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
- Experience of working with people with mental health problems and supporting them to access opportunities beyond mental health services
- Experience of positively sharing own life experiences, and personal recovery journey with service users, carers and others
- Experience of working both independently as well as providing group and 1:1 activities
- Recent experience of supervision of others (in paid or unpaid capacity)
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a range
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