Carer/Parent Peer Support Worker
Closing date: 29 April 2026
The role of Eating Disorders Peer Support Worker has been developed specifically for people who have personal lived experience of being a parent or carer of a young person who has accessed Eating Disorder Services. Through sharing wisdom from their own experiences, the Eating Disorders Parent/Carer PSW will inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible and support parents and carers through their own recovery journey.
Job responsibilities
1. Work with the multi‑disciplinary team across both adult and child & adolescent eating disorder services to support parents/carers of young people accessing eating disorder services, ensuring their needs are met through a strengths‑based approach.
2. Assume a coaching role supporting parent/carers in thinking about their own personal recovery plans in relation to being a parent/carer; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
3. Develop, create promotional materials and undertake a carers clinic – a one‑to‑one, short‑term intervention for friends and family of the current cohort of service users, supporting them to develop skills and attend to their own mental health while being in the caring role.
4. Work with members of the MDT to create and utilise evaluation tools to assess the impact of the role.
5. Assist parents/carers to identify their own strengths, personal interests and goals, emphasising the importance of their own wellbeing in order to best support the person accessing services.
6. Support parents/carers in making sense of the experiences of mental and emotional distress of the young person they are parent/carer to, involving the young person in these conversations as much as possible and appropriate. This might include understandings of personal and social recovery, health and wellbeing, personal and social identity while recognising that each individual’s recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process.
7. Support parents/carers in making sense of their own experiences of mental and emotional distress in relation to the challenges the young person is facing, being highly sensitive to their use of language and descriptions of experiences.
8. Share wisdom, mentor around recovery processes and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of caring for a young person who has experienced recovery from an eating disorder.
9. Act as a role model to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person who has cared for a young person in recovery.
10. Work with some autonomy with complex safety considerations for individuals across community and inpatient contexts.
11. Work jointly with highly skilled colleagues from a variety of professional backgrounds to develop and co‑facilitate carer interventions and ensure co‑production is modelled within the care provided.
12. Be attuned to sensitive safeguarding issues as they may present within the relevant cohort of patients, their friends and family and utilise supervision to ensure safety and risk is managed in a recovery‑focused, timely manner.
13. Attend team meetings and contribute to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multi‑disciplinary team.
14. Work together with the young person and their parents/carers in drawing up care plans, encouraging and motivating both to take an active role in the care plan.
15. Incorporate and promote the Triangle of Care within MDT working practice and decision‑making.
16. Promote and support parents/carers engagement in the community by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting parents/carers to access them, maximising opportunities for socially valued roles and positive identity.
17. Assist in the development and implementation of educational and peer‑facilitated parent/carer support groups and activities.
18. Assist parents/carers to maintain a connection with their life beyond being a parent/carer of a young person accessing services.
19. Accept and respect parent/carers’ personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
* Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work‑based learning and mandatory training; completion of Level 4 City University accredited course "Developing Expertise in Peer Support".
* Accredited certificate in Life Coaching.
Previous Experience
* Own personal lived experience of caring for a young person who has experienced recovery from an eating disorder.
* Own personal lived experience of caring for a young person who has accessed Eating Disorder Services.
* Paid or unpaid working experience in health and social care.
* Developed plans for managing own wellbeing.
* Willing to positively share own life experiences, and personal experience of caring for someone with an eating disorder with young people, parents/carers and families.
* Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work toward achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting.
* Paid or unpaid experience of working with individuals with an eating disorder.
* Paid or unpaid experience of working with parents/carers/families.
Skills, Knowledge, Abilities
* Demonstrated first‑person experiential knowledge of recovery.
* Knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others.
* Good interpersonal skills and ability to form peer relationships with service users and carers.
* Effective communication on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, internally and externally to the Trust.
* Empathy, compassion and patience.
* Calm and professional response to distress, disturbance and unpredictability.
* Problem‑solving and creation of innovative solutions to empower service users.
* Understanding of issues arising from experiencing mental ill health.
* Sensitive understanding of diversity issues and ability to promote anti‑discriminatory practice and equal opportunities.
* Practical skills to provide support with daily living activities.
* Basic health and safety awareness.
* Moving and handling awareness.
* Awareness of local services.
* Knowledge of benefits/employment systems.
* Good overall understanding of the role and responsibilities.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and will require a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
£33,094 to £36,195 a year (pro‑rata per annum, incl. HCAS)
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