Peer Support Practitioner

Supporting patients who are acutely unwell in the community, and providing the best level of care to them whilst remaining in their own homes. We provide support for individuals who are experiencing an acute episode in the community, as well as supporting people who have been discharged from inpatient wards. We provide a menu of interventions, to ensure the highest level of care and support is delivered.
This is an opportunity to be a part of a dynamic service, providing opportunities to develop your skills and your career. You will play a key role in the multi-disciplinary team supporting the qualified and other support workers.
The main purpose of this role is to support service users to establish greater control over their lives. Helping to identify aspects of life that give meaning, hope, value, and purpose, whilst recognizing that each individual's recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process.
As an integral and valued member of the multi-disciplinary team, the post holder will provide support to individuals within the service, by role modelling and using lived experience. You will also work within the Rapid response function undertaking assessments 24/7 received from the Urgent Mental Health Helpline as well as undertaking gatekeeping assessments with the support of qualified staff., The main purpose of this role is to support service users to establish greater control over their lives, helping to identify aspects of life that give meaning, hope, value and purpose whilst recognising that each individual's recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process.
As an integral and valued member of the multi-disciplinary team, the post holder will provide support to individuals within the service, by role modelling and using lived experience of secondary mental health services.
This role will involve working with service users on a one-to-one or group basis. Also working within the wider staff group to ensure that the environment supports the service user to reach their individual recovery goals.
There will be a variety of tasks some of which will be service user-initiated, whilst others will be requested by staff for the overall service provision.
The post holder will work flexibly as the service requires.

Working for our organisation
Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.
We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people across the county.
The Trust (rated Good overall by the CQC and Outstanding for care) has 3,283 staff working in 66 buildings across 33 locations, covering an area of 1,450 square miles.
You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.
The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
+ To provide opportunities for individual service users to direct their own recovery process, enabling them to complete their advanced care plan.
+ To model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate coping skills, using your own experience of recovery to inspire hope.
+ To assist and advise individuals in managing their own mental health on a day-to-day basis, for example, activities of daily living such as self-care, budgeting, personal care, caring for their home, possible work roles and leisure pursuits etc.
+ To positively promote recovery by making links with community resources and supporting service users to access them, e.g. In relation to training, education, employment, community living and leisure, etc.
+ To facilitate and co-facilitate therapeutic groups as required.
+ To work with staff and individuals to support a smooth discharge back into the community.
+ To support the team in promoting the role of Peer Support Worker and to raise awareness of what recovery means, contributing to any local research/evaluation of this new role.
+ To participate in regular supervision with the manager (weekly at first and then monthly once the role is established within the team) and mentoring, meeting other Peer Support Workers bi-monthly and quarterly.
+ To participate and contribute to team meetings, individual appraisal, and setting personal development goals within the job.
+ Provide accurate and up-to-date oral/written reports on the clients' care and outcomes of care objectives.
+ To maintain confidentiality at all times in line with the Trust policy.
+ To assist in providing a safe and caring environment.
+ To adhere to Trust and Statutory Health & Safety requirements.
+ To maintain and update training as required.
+ To undertake any other duties as may be assigned or delegated from time to time by the Unit Manager, or other Senior Trust staff.
+ You will also work within the Rapid response function undertaking assessments 24/7 received from the Urgent Mental Health Helpline as well as undertaking gatekeeping assessments with the support of qualified staff.