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Job summary

Main area
Peer Support
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 5
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
346-FMH-073-25-A
Employer
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Deerbolt
Town
Barnard Castle
Salary
£31,049 - £37,796 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
06/10/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust logo

Senior Peer Worker

NHS AfC: Band 5

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care —our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We’re committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won’t rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

Job overview

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Senior Peer Worker to join our Health and Justice services. The role will initially be based at HMP Deerbolt, with scope to expand across nearby sites to support incoming Peer Workers. This post is designed to deliver peer support in custodial settings and provide supervision to Peer Workers across the Health and Justice pathway.

Peer support involves people with shared experiences building safe, trusting, non-judgemental relationships where we learn and grow together. Peer Workers are individuals with lived experience of mental health challenges and accessing mental health services. They are trained and supported to work to TEWV’s Peer Support Values, using their experience to support others.

We are looking for candidates who have:

Lived experience of mental health challenges

Experience of accessing secondary, tertiary, or inpatient mental health services, including health and justice services.

Experience working as a Peer Worker or in a lived experience role

Experience delivering formal peer support or peer supervision

We welcome applications from people with personal experience of prison, secure inpatient care, or other forms of confinement. The post is subject to TEWV pre employment checks & Standard Plus Prison Vetting. If clearance is not obtained, this may affect appointment, but we will offer individualised support to help candidates navigate the vetting process.

Main duties of the job

These are challenging but rewarding roles supporting people with a wide range of experiences.

Your time in post will start with attending our peer support training alongside other people starting peer support roles with us.  This training is delivered by people with their own lived experience who also have direct experience of working in peer roles themselves. 

 Working under the direction and guidance of the relevant Peer Lead within the service, this role will involve:

·       Working autonomously into designated teams or sites to provide peer support

·       Setting up and facilitating / co-facilitating peer support groups

·       Working into designated team processes to support service user voice to be heard and bring lived experience expertise into team or service processes

·       Delivering 1:1 supervision to peer workers and peer practitioners

·       Facilitating or co-facilitating co-reflection spaces for peer workers and peer practitioners

To support you with this work you will receive ongoing regular line management and peer work supervision, and will be able to access a range of other peer connection and development structures.

Working for our organisation

We value diversity and want to have a wide range of identities represented in the peer workforce.  We welcome applications from people with lived experience of distress and mental health services from the characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation) and other diverse groups. 

 We also value a diversity of experiences with mental health services in the peer workforce and welcome applications from people with helpful, difficult or mixed experiences of mental health services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Within this role you will draw on your own experience of mental health challenges.  You will ‘walk alongside’ others on their journey in a supportive peer relationship built on our core peer values of authenticity, relationship, validation, respect, mutuality and empowerment.  You will listen non-judgementally to create safe spaces where people feel heard.  You will approach the peer relationship with compassion and curiosity.  You will recognise and value people’s strengths, diversity and expertise in themselves.  You will be aware of the impacts of trauma and committed to the importance of working in ways which are sensitive to the needs of trauma survivors. 

You also will be an integrated and valued member of the team.  Peer roles involve contributing peer values and the knowledge, skills and expertise that come with lived experience of mental health challenges and mental health services.  Important parts of this role also include working within the team to help service users’ voices be heard and to promote recovery values and trauma informed approaches.  Peer roles will be supported to challenge both individual and structural instances of stigma and discrimination related to mental health and other forms of exclusion.

Please see the uploaded job description or approach us for an informal chat if you would like further details on the post.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Educated to degree level OR has equivalent experience developing and delivering Peer Support in a community or NHS setting.
  • Completed Trust Trauma Informed Peer Support Training course (passing within agreed timescale)
  • Completed Trust approved Peer Support Training
  • Numeracy, Literacy and ITQ level 2 (or equivalent)
Desirable criteria
  • Completed Trust Trauma Informed Peer Support Course
  • Completed an accredited Peer Support training course

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Personal experience of mental health challenges or a learning disability that is relevant to the specific role advertised
  • Personal experience of accessing secondary (or inpatient) mental health services
  • Experience of working as a peer worker or in another lived experience essential role
  • Experience of delivering peer support in a paid or voluntary role, or in a user led environment
  • Experience in delivering supervision or co-supervision to peers
  • Experience of actively engaging in a supervision or co-supervision system
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of social exclusion, stigma and / or discrimination
  • Psychiatric hospital admission
  • Experience of peer support or user led environments outside the NHS
  • Experience preparing workplace teams for peer support workers
  • Experience in recruiting peer support workers
  • Experience of delivering training sessions on peer support

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Passionate about the values of peer support and understands what the role adds to a team
  • Understanding of trauma informed approaches
  • Understanding of trauma informed approaches and trauma informed peer support, and a demonstrated ability to apply this knowledge to practice and to support others to develop their practice
  • Health and Safety legislation and its application in practice
  • Clinical Governance and Clinical Supervision.
  • Care Programme Approach
  • Safeguarding and its application in practice
  • Understanding of the day to day issues effecting service users with mental health conditions or learning disabilities
  • Research and development methodology
  • Understanding of the needs of individuals from diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Able to share elements of own life experiences, and engage compassionately with experiences of others, in a way appropriate to the role and peer relationship
  • Communicate complex and sensitive information in a manner appropriate to the individual and situation
  • Good peer relationship skills and ability to describe such skills verbally and in writing
  • Peer record keeping and report writing
  • Ability to relate as a peer to the needs of the service user group
  • Work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team
  • Manage own caseload and prioritise effectively
  • Delegate tasks appropriately
  • Apply latest research evidence and evaluative thinking in practice
  • Ability to lead peer support group sessions
  • Ability to deliver effective teaching and training sessions (within agreed timescale)
  • Breakaway techniques (within agreed timescale)

Personal Attributes

Essential criteria
  • Commitment to supporting service users voices to be heard
  • Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice
  • Able to work in accordance with the Staff Compact and Trust Values and Behaviours

Employer certification / accreditation badges

We are a Living Wage EmployerVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerStep into healthArmed Forces CovenantBetter Health at Work Gold Award

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jodie Ridley
Job title
Peer Lead
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07551 676 809
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