We are recruiting a Senior Peer Support Worker to deliver our innovative service for the people of Bradford District and Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven. The Haven is a partnership between The Cellar Trust, Bradford District Foundation Care Trust and Bradford Metropolitan District Council. It supports individuals in mental distress, as an alternative place to A&E. The aim is to build individual and community resilience, and work with individuals to develop plans to help to keep them safe and well.

We are looking for an experienced Peer Support Worker to work as a senior member of our award winning Haven team with a good understanding of mental health, and a passion for empowering and supporting individuals. You will be highly motivated, proactive, resourceful and have a positive attitude with a flexible approach and excellent interpersonal and team working skills.

The Senior Peer Support Workers are a key part of the Haven service. The purpose is to deliver high quality care and support for individuals in mental distress including helping them to develop plans to build their resilience, and stay well and safe in the community. A key part of this role will also be to lead the shift and supervise other Peer Support Workers including liaising with clinical staff to ensure the smooth running of the service and managing rotas for a 365 day service. In addition, you will manage the Peer Support Volunteers.

Please Note: This is a peer support role and applicants who do not indicate they have lived experience of their own mental health problems will not be considered.

Accountability
• Responsible to the Crisis and Specialist Support Lead
• Line management of Peer support Workers and supervision of Peer Support Volunteers

Key Duties and Responsibilities
Supporting and working with clients

• Work with unconditional positive regard and empower clients to build their resilience and move forward in their recovery
• Work with clients on a one-to-one and group basis
• Use a brief therapy approach to help the de-escalation of crisis and distress
• Work with clients to talk about their distress, and how they can manage it going forward
• Support clients in the development of wellness and safety plans
• Encourage clients to establish social networks and undertake meaningful activities to assist them to develop positive coping mechanisms
• Support carers’ and families of clients as appropriate
• Work with a high level of awareness of safeguarding in order to both prevent and respond appropriately to abuse

Supervision and management

• Supervise Mental Health Support Workers and Peer Support Workers to ensure that a high quality service is delivered
• Manage Peer Support Volunteers, offering regular supervision and opportunities to upskill.
• Ensure that the service is operated in a safe manner, in line with legislation and best practice guidance
• Work in a proactive manner which enables continuous learning/development and improvement in the service. This will include working with the leadership team to identify opportunities for further growth to the service
• Work with the Crisis and Specialist Support Lead and Head of Client Services to develop processes and guidance for use within the service.

Other duties

• Support the Intensive Home Treatment Shift Coordinator to take referral calls and liaise with the First Response Service as required in order to manage the numbers of clients in the service at any one time
• Work closely with the Intensive Home Treatment Shift Coordinator to manage risk appropriately
• Liaise with other mental health and social care professionals and services as required, for example, social workers, Community Mental Health Teams and outreach workers to ensure that wellness and safety plans are implemented
• Ensure that the service is delivered in line with confidentiality and data protection legislation and guidelines
• Participate in all mandatory training and continued professional development as required
• Work in a collaborative manner which encourages effective team work and communication.
• Physical Effort - May need to travel within service area, as required. Use of breakaway techniques may be required.
• Emotional Effort - The role is emotionally demanding due to the nature of distress experienced by service users and the workers own lived experience. Issues may be encountered which may be emotionally distressing for the workers involved.

Job Description

Application Form

Monitoring Form