Job overview

The Transition Peer Worker plays a crucial role within the AMHS service, supporting patients in both hospital and community settings with their lived experience of mental illness. This role is dedicated to providing recovery-focused peer support to empower individuals following discharge from acute mental health admissions.

Based on the principle of peer support, Transition Peer Workers leverage their personal experiences of overcoming mental health challenges to illuminate and empathize with the struggles of mental illness. They work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team, serving as role models to foster autonomy and ownership in service users' lives post-discharge. 

In addition to advocating for recovery within the Transition Team and with partner agencies, Transition Peer Workers prioritize patients identified by senior team members for ongoing support. Through peer support interventions grounded in empathy, transparency, and hope, they enable service users to lead fulfilling lives. By encouraging the utilization of available resources and sharing personal experiences, Transition Peer Workers build trusting relationships that promote meaningful activities and empower service users' choices and self-determination.

Main duties of the job

·       Linking in to community groups

·       Providing recovery focussed support to service users

·       To establish supportive and respectful relationships with service users using the Tri-Borough team.

·       To help people to complete recovery plans, incorporating identification of users’ own goals and support needed to achieve them.

·       To ensure that interactions are sensitive and responsive to the service users’ ethnic, cultural and social background, using a range of communication and engagement skills as appropriate to the context.

·       To promote social inclusion and engagement.

·       To share ideas about ways of achieving and developing recovery, drawing on personal experiences and a range of interventions.

·       To model personal responsibility, self-awareness, self-belief, self-advocacy and hopefulness, to service users, carers and newly appointed Transition Peer Workers

·       To sign-post to various resources, opportunities and activities both within the Trust and the wider community to promote choice and informed decision making.

·       To accompany service users to appointments/meetings/activities of their choice and performing a range of practical tasks, aligned to recovery goals.

·       To become actively involved in the continued development of the Transition Peer Worker training programme and in the ongoing evaluation of the Transition Peer Worker role.

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Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and   Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m. 

The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.