Carers Peer Support Worker Parklands HospitalNHS

Job summary

Elmwood Ward is a specialist dementia ward at Parklands Hospital. We are seeking a compassionate Carer's Peer Support Worker with lived experience of supporting a relative or friend experiencing mental distress.

Using your lived experience, you will provide hope, understanding & practical support to families & carers of patients receiving inpatient mental health services. You will build trusting relationships, offer one-to-one support, facilitate carer groups & help carers access information, services & community resources.

Working closely with carers, patients & the multidisciplinary team, you will develop Carer's Communication Plans, promote communication & ensure carers feel heard, valued & involved in care wherever possible.

You will advocate for carers, promote the Triangle of Care, strengthen links with local organisations & help improve the support available to carers. You will also contribute to service improvement & evaluation.

We are looking for someone with excellent communication skills, empathy & a passion for supporting others through shared experience. You will be able to build rapport, maintain professional boundaries, work collaboratively & empower carers to recognise their strengths, build resilience & access support.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a difference to carers & families while helping shape & improve services on Elmwood Ward. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

The role of Carer's Peer Support Worker has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of caring for a friend or family member experiencing mental distress. Through sharing wisdom from their own experiences, Carer's Peer Support Workers will inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible in others.

The Carer's Peer Support Worker works collaboratively and aims to improve the wellbeing of families and carers of people who use Acute Inpatient Mental Health Services. The post holder will support carers directly, provide support to carers' groups, develop and maintain relationships with service provider teams, and contribute to service development.

The post holder will work in partnership with families and carers, multidisciplinary teams, and statutory, voluntary and community-sector organisations to support recovery, communication and access to appropriate support.

Job description

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.

Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.

We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.

Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence