We are recruiting for a Peer Specialist to work in the Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) local community with regular visits to St Ann’s Hospital.
Hours: Part time worked over two to three days (including Wednesday).
Times of work: will be between the hours of 9.00am and 5.00pm.
The core tasks of the Peer Specialist will be:
- Hold a caseload of individuals to provide up to six weeks of personalised, recovery focused support following a hospital admission.
- Use lived experience to inspire hope and support individual aspirations.
- Model Recovery in all aspects of your work, demonstrating a commitment to ongoing personal and professional development.
- Meet people in the community at locations where they feel safe and comfortable, supporting them to identify welcoming community spaces where needed.
- Offer a reflective space to explore experiences around mental health difficulties, the impact of hospital admission and discharge, recovery, and hopes for the future.
- Support people to reconnect with what matters to them, building social connections and engagement in local activities.
- Introduce recovery-based tools and strategies, including Recovery Education and other relevant wellbeing resources.
- Facilitate warm introductions into groups, services, and activities aligned with individual interests.
- Meet people on the ward prior to discharge to support a smooth transition.
- Maintain clear and timely written records, following information security and GDPR best practice.
- Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
- Engage in reflective practice through attending debriefs, supervision and training.
- Manage your wellbeing at work, ensuring that you model recovery in all aspects of your role.
- Maintain boundaries and safe working practices at all times, in line with operating guidance, policies and procedures.
- Be proficient in the use of IT to enable provision of digital support and use of clinical systems.
About You
As a Peer Specialist, you will have a good understanding of managing your own health and wellbeing at work, as well as having experience of supporting others. You will have exceptional interpersonal skills and be confident in communicating with people at all levels of an organisation.
For this role, we are looking specifically for people who have the following skills, experience and attributes:
- You will have personal lived experience of accessing secondary mental health services.
- You will have experience of 1-2-1 support of vulnerable adults and an ability to demonstrate caseload management skills.
- You will understand Recovery Education and ideally have accessed courses as a student.
- You will be able to demonstrate working within clear professional and personal boundaries.
- You will have personal lived experience and an understanding of living with and managing mental health issues, including understanding the barriers to recovery and believing in a person’s right to fulfil their potential.
- You will be a driver and have access to a suitable vehicle to undertake the travel commitment of this role.
- You will be comfortable with lone working in the community.
- You will have exceptional timekeeping and interpersonal skills, whilst having the ability to work on your own initiative and also collaborate as part of the team.
- You will have a willingness to undertake training, including gaining an understanding of Safeguarding adults and children processes and procedures.
- You will be comfortable using IT including Outlook and MS Office.
- You will embody the Forum’s Vision, Purpose and Values.
About Dorset Mental Health Forum
We are a values led charity and collective of people who have chosen to reframe our experiences of mental health difficulties and trauma, to support, inspire and educate others. We influence the design and delivery of local mental health services and run projects across Dorset independently and in Partnership with NHS colleagues and local communities. The Forum has a proud and long history of employing a diverse workforce with a broad range of experiences including trauma, emotional distress and managing mental health issues.
About the Project
Hospital to Home is delivered in partnership between the Dorset Mental Health Forum and Dorset HealthCare and is a service that seeks to provide a timely, supportive and safe transition for people leaving mental health inpatient units and returning back to the community.
Peer Specialists work as part of a multi-disciplinary team and bring the expertise of an intentional use of lived experience, alongside the clinical expertise of their NHS colleagues. Our peers support patients during those crucial first 6 weeks after discharge, they walk alongside them using their knowledge and experience to inspire hope and a sense of agency as well as empowering people to build those all-important community connections that can underpin their recoveries going forward.
Please send applications to: recruitment@dorsetmentalhealthforum.org.uk and include cover letter and CV in your application. Applications without a cover letter, may not be considered.
We will be reviewing applications and shortlisting on an ongoing basis, closing the process when we have appointed the right candidates.