Peer Support Worker

Job overview

An exciting opportunity for a peer support worker has become available with Step On to work part time, 22.5 hours per week.

Do you have lived experience of mental health and want to make a difference to the lives of others? Are you compassionate, kind, and enthusiastic about working with people to enable them in their recovery? If so, the Step On team is looking for a peer support worker to join them on a part-time basis, to support people accessing secondary mental health services to develop employment skills and work experience.

Step On delivers Individual Placement and Support and this role will be based in Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire. The team of experienced employment specialists and peer support workers have excellent outcomes supporting people into work and moving closer to the employment market and lived experience is valued within the team.

Main duties of the job

Peer support is based on the recognition that there is no better person to support the path towards recovery than someone who has walked the same path as that individual.

The Peer Support Worker will provide formalised peer support and practical assistance to service users in order for them to regain control over their lives and their own unique recovery process. The Peer Support Worker will come alongside a service user through their recovery journey, and assist them when aspiring and considering the initial steps into employment.

Peer Support Workers work as part of the community mental health team and work in collaboration with Employment Specialists and other colleagues within the team. Peer Support Workers engage with mental health service users to show empathy, share experience, inspire hope and promote recovery with the aim of assisting service users to gain and maintain independence in the community.  The Peer Support Worker will assist service users in raising aspirations and developing personal goals, with the aim to be supported into employment, by an Employment Specialists within Step On

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To establish a supportive and respectful relationship with service users, sharing own narratives to raise aspirations to access employment opportunities.
• To work primarily in direct work with service users on a 1:1 and in group settings as agreed with team supervisor and team manager.
• To help individuals to consider employment opportunities and identify their own achievable and meaningful recovery goals.
• To actively, practically and creatively support an individual to progress towards becoming ‘work ready’ through co-facilitating pre-vocational interventions on a 1:1 and group basis.