Peer Support Worker
Leeds Mind promotes positive mental health and wellbeing, and provides help and support to anyone who needs it in and around Leeds. We have faith and optimism in our clients and so the services we deliver are built around their needs. We support the people of Leeds to discover their own resources to ‘recover’ from periods of poor mental health, and to live life independently with their mental health condition.
Our values of Being Open, Supportive, Brave, Connected, and Resourceful are pivotal to the work we do.
Belonging at Leeds Mind
Leeds Mind is committed to creating an inclusive environment – equity, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything that we do.
We are committed to ensuring that our colleagues, volunteers and people who access our services feel a sense of belonging at Leeds Mind that gives them the confidence to share their unique perspectives and experience.
By creating an inclusive environment that fosters belonging, we aspire to attract colleagues and volunteers who offer diversity of experience and thought. We believe this will ultimately improve the service we provide as well as the employee and volunteer experience.
Our Service
The Community Mental Health Transformation programme is an established approach to supporting adults and older adults with ongoing and complex mental health needs. This way of working enables more people to access the support they need, when they need it.
Support is provided at a local level, with access to help and advice for a range of related issues such as housing, benefits, employment, and physical health all in one place.
People with ongoing and complex mental health needs are sometimes referred to as having Severe Mental Illness (SMI). This includes a wide range of needs and complexities, which may also coexist with frailty, cognitive impairments, neurodiversity, or substance use.
The Role
The successful candidate will be employed by Leeds Mind to work alongside Leeds Survivor Lead Crisis Service and Yorkshire MESMAC directly, alongside multi-disciplinary work with broader community mental health services.
The role is integral in promoting and role modelling the peer support principles whilst building safe, trusting relationships with people using services based on non-judgmental listening and shared lived experience. To use your personal experiences of using mental health services in your own recovery – sometimes called ‘lived experience’ – in your work and to support people to make use of their own strengths and build connections with their peers and wider communities. The post holder will support a range of people from across Leeds, in a non-judgemental, person-centred way, while holding cultural sensitivity at the heart of their approach.
The postholder will support individuals using 1:1 peer support sessions in the community, partner buildings or home visits. The postholder will also be responsible for the delivery of some groups, courses, workshops and the supervision of a volunteer. The role will include some evening and weekend work where required.
Essential Skills and Experience:
* Lived experience of mental health challenges and the utilisation of tools and resources to support your own recovery.
* Experience building connections within the wider community.
* Experience discovering personal strengths and the strengths of others.
* Experience walking with someone in a time of need, professionally or personally.
* Willing and able to share your own personal recovery to help others.
* Demonstrate an understanding of the role and impact of peer support in people’s lives.
* Demonstrate the knowledge, confidence, and skills to work with people with a range of needs.
* Good understanding of the way in which mental health services work locally.
* Completed a plan to support your own wellbeing (e.g., a wellbeing recovery action plan or equivalent).
* Computer literacy.
* Living the organisations core values every day.
Hours – 25 hours per week
Scale – Grade 2
Salary - £25,231 per annum pro rata
Contract – permanent
Closing Date: 12th October
Interview Date: 20th October
The role is based over various locations and requires travel across Leeds, working over various sites including The Light Surgery, HATCH Local Care Partnership, West Leeds, as well as home visits and work from home.
Leeds Mind is an Equal Opportunities employer.
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