Overview
Role: Peer Support Worker (Inpatient/Specialist Care Team). The PSW provides formal and professional peer support and practical assistance to service users to support recovery during their inpatient stay, using lived experience to help navigate the inpatient pathway in line with the peer support competency framework and ImROC principles.
Location: Basildon Mental Health Unit, Grangewaters Ward, Basildon, SS16 5NL. Contract: Permanent, Part-time. Band 3. Salary: £24,937 to £26,598 per annum pro rata. Date posted: 09 October 2025.
Note: You must have the right to work in the UK to apply. This role does not sponsor under Home Office guidelines.
The Trust (Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust) supports flexible working and offers a range of benefits.
Responsibilities
* Provide peer support to service users to direct their own recovery, co-produce care plans, and identify goals and needs toward discharge.
* Build positive, mutual, and respectful relationships with service users and their families/carers; advocate for service users and support self-advocacy.
* Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to meet mental health needs and facilitate access to additional services within the inpatient setting.
* Promote trauma-informed care and challenge stigma, discrimination, and low expectations.
* Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings and regular supervision; reflect on interpersonal dynamics and recovery-focused care.
* Support service users to identify strengths and interests, enable participation in activities, and promote healthy relationships.
* Accompany service users to appointments and community activities as appropriate, and support transitions between inpatient and community services.
* Contribute to assessment, planning, implementation, and review of care with the MDT; promote independent living and linkage with community organisations.
* Understand rights and choices within the services and help service users navigate health promotion and wellbeing information.
* Act as an ambassador for lived experience across inpatient services and participate in peer professional development opportunities.
Qualifications and Experience
* Essential: Experience of working alongside mental health professionals.
* Essential: Personal lived experience of managing or living with complex mental health issues.
* Desirable: Peer Support certification; experience of working with volunteers, third sector organisations, and/or community and social enterprise organisations.
Education/Qualifications: Desirable Peer Support certification.
Risk, Governance and Operations
* Manage risks in line with Trust policies; raise safeguarding concerns promptly; report untoward incidents; adhere to infection control practices.
* Embed recovery values, maintain governance standards, and contribute to development of the Peer Support Worker role within the Integrated Care System (ICS).
* Maintain caseload as negotiated with supervisor; plan and prioritise own workload; maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and policies.
* Attend operational and strategic meetings as identified and participate in peer professional development forums.
Administration and Information Systems
* Comply with Trust ICT policies; maintain documentation in line with information governance and data protection policies; use Trust equipment as required.
Employer Information
* Employer: Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).
* Address: Grangewaters Ward, Basildon Mental Health Unit, Basildon, SS16 5NL.
* About the Staff Bank: EPUT NHS staff bank hires clinical and non-clinical staff for shifts; permanent staff may be automatically enrolled in the staff bank with option to opt in.
Job Details
* Job location: Basildon Mental Health Unit, Grangewaters Ward, Basildon, SS16 5NL.
* Working pattern: Part-time. Band 3. Salary: £24,937 to £26,598 per annum pro rata. Contract: Permanent.
* Reference: 364-A-8139-D.
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