HealthJobsUK

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has become available for a Peer Supporter to be appointed into the perinatal community mental health team.

We are looking for an experienced peer supporter to work within the South locality of the trust, however there may be a need to support across different localities.

The Perinatal Team provides a community service to support women experiencing mental health difficulties related to pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. We also work to minimise the risk of relapse in those women who are currently well but who have a history of severe mental illness.

The service is currently delivered by a range of community professionals including Perinatal Psychiatric Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrists, Junior Doctors, Peer Supporters and Nursery Nurses as well as administrative support. We are an experienced team, specialising in perinatal mental health. Sometimes we have students from a range of differing mental health backgrounds working with us.

The team is available Monday – Friday, 9am–5pm, except bank holidays. We support women living in Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Sunderland and South Tyneside who are either pregnant or up to one year postnatal and who have been suffering from depression and/or anxiety or other significant mental health difficulties as a direct result of their current or previous pregnancy or pregnancy loss.

**Location: to cover South of Tyne**

Main duties of the job

The principal role of the post holder will be to support service users by developing mutual peer relationships based on their own lived experience, in some services this principal role may relate to carers.

A key feature of the post will be the person’s unique lived experience of secondary mental health services and their recovery (and / or of supporting someone in a caring capacity with (a) mental health condition(s), neurodiversity or learning disability), and how the wisdom that comes with this can support others on their personal journey.

The majority of the post holder’s time will be devoted to having direct contact with service users, mainly on a one to one basis but at times in group settings.

They will support service users to identify aspects of life that give meaning, hope, value and purpose whilst recognising that each individual’s wellbeing is distinctive and deeply personal, conversations may include reference to their own recovery journey.

They will support staff to identify, understand and respect aspects of life that give meaning, hope, value and purpose to service users and / or carers, creating an awareness in staff of the key role that service user’s experience may play in their identity and how it influences their wellbeing.

Working for our organisation

We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.