Rough Sleepers Mental Health, Band 4 Peer Support WorkerNHS AfC: Band 4

Job overview

Creative, Innovative and Breaking the Stigma

We have an opportunity for a Band 4 Peer Support Worker for three or four days a week, for a 12 month fixed term contract, in the Rough Sleepers Mental Health Project (RAMHP).

RAMHP is an assessment and liaison service that works with street outreach services to support people who sleep rough and help them get the right mental health care. The service covers Tower Hamlets, Hackney, City of London and Newham. We work with statutory and partner organisations supporting people in challenging circumstances. The team uses an assertive outreach approach, going out to see people where they are.

The Peer Support Worker will have lived experience of rough sleeping and of using mental health services. You will be sharing your own experiences, to gain trust and inspire hope that recovery is possible from somebody that gets it.

Main duties of the job

This role requires an understanding of the health needs of rough sleepers and the challenges homeless people face in health settings. You will support people to navigate health and rough sleeping systems and to overcome barriers that prevent them from accessing healthcare and other support.

You will be a member of a multidisciplinary team and will go out with colleagues. We visit people where they are, which may be on the streets, emergency accommodation or specific homeless day centres. You would be travelling across Tower Hamlets, Hackney, City of London and Newham. The role would involve engaging with people who may have mental health needs, and to support us and them to understand their mental health better. They may be mistrustful of services but need to be connected with appropriate support.

In your personal statement, please tell us of your lived experience of rough sleeping and mental health.

The team operates Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm.

We encourage people to contact us to find out more or arrange a visit:

Hilary Neal, Operational Lead 07970 650 805 or Tash Lawrence, Occupational Therapist 07824318509

Working for our organisation

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

-To work as an integral and highly valued member of the service in facilitating client centred activities to inspire hope and recovery.

-To support individuals in identifying personal recovery goals to improve the service users' quality of life and to support them to do the things they want to do and live the life they want to lead.

-Through sharing aspects of own lived experience of mental health challenges, accessing services and recovery stories, the Peer Support Worker (PSW) will inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible in others. The post holder will develop relationships based on mutuality so they can facilitate and support information sharing to promote choice, self- determination and opportunities for the fulfilment of socially valued roles. To work with people who are rough sleepers who are experiencing mental health problems.

-The Senior PSW will act as an ambassador of Recovery and will work closely with team members, partner organisations and local communities to develop, through co-production, recovery-focused interventions that address the needs of those served including resilience and recovery, shared support, social connections and community engagement.

-The team operates 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. The team will operate 9am - 5pm patterns. They will work with the Clinical and Operational Leads in supporting the continuous development of the service ensuring safe and effective practice upholding the Trust values with the homeless person at the centre of all care delivered.

Person specification

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree or has gained equivalent level of work experience
• Significant experience of peer support working
• A willingness to undertake further training and/or qualifications.
• NVQ3 or equivalent experience.

Desirable criteria

• Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training,
• ELFT Accredited Peer Support Worker Training (by Royal College of Psychiatry)

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of working as a Peer Support Worker in a relevant setting.
• Own personal lived experience of rough sleeping
• Own personal lived experience of mental health

Desirable criteria

• Awareness of local services and community organisations
• Knowledge of benefits/employment systems
• Ability to demonstrate an understanding of mental health issues
• Experience of delivering training

Knowledge and skills

Essential criteria

• A sound knowledge of good practice in Peer Support Work
• Able to use Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and ability to co-produce new information resources to promote emerging projects
• Able to demonstrate understanding of Intentional Peer Support
• Demonstrate knowledge of personal Recovery
• Evidence of good interpersonal skills and an ability to form peer relationships with service users and carers
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• 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
• Commitment to Trust Equality and Diversity policies and Trust values
• Willingness to take initiative and speaking Truth to Power.
• Cultural awareness including awareness of the potential impact of discrimination & disadvantage on mental health.
• Ability to recognise and appropriately challenge stigma and discrimination.

Desirable criteria

• To demonstrate a knowledge of audits, survey’s and consultations
• Awareness of local services
• Knowledge of benefits/employment systems
• Ability to demonstrate a understanding of mental health issues