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Job description

Do you want to be part of a friendly and dynamic team of Employment Specialists committed to delivering excellent employment support to our clients? If you believe passionately that anyone with mental health difficulties can work and would like to be part of that journey, then this could be the role for you.

We are currently seeking an Peer Employment Specialist to join our well-established Employment Services Team. The post will be based within the North Westminster Community Mental Health Team based at Woodfield Road.

The role of the Peer Employment Specialist has been developed specifically for people who have lived experience of recovery from mental health challenges, who have accessed outpatient mental health rehabilitation services, who want to use their lived experience of recovery to support others in their employment and recovery journey.

You will support a caseload of clients who wish to return to paid employment or struggling to sustain their current jobs. You will utilise your lived experience and use this directly in your role to inspire hope and belief that people with mental health difficulties can thrive in employment.

We welcome applications from individuals with experience of supporting people to access paid employment or employability skills which could be transferred to this role along with the right qualities and aptitudes.

You don’t need to have specific experience in IPS or employment support, but you do need to be willing to learn.

• Supporting a caseload of clients to access and sustain paid employment. This will include enabling clients to identify their best job match, relationship building with employers, providing effective in work support to the clients.
• Raising the profile of access to paid employment services within the Community Mental Health hub team.
• Raising the awareness of, and literacy surrounding, Recovery within the team and service locally.
• Implementing the principles of evidenced based employment practice, with a commitment to the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model fidelity and practice.
• Building effective working relationships with external employers to secure paid employment for clients. This will often involve job carving and developing opportunities in the hidden labour market.
• Implementing strategies to increase client access to paid employment support.
• Keeping accurate records of work in line with Trust and Employment Services policies and procedures.

Please note, this is not an administrative role, it is a client facing role which includes working to achieve and exceed set KPIs and targets.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

You will be joining a well-established Employment Service, who are a National Centre of Excellence in delivering Individual Placement and Support. We provide training throughout the year to ensure we continue to deliver a high-fidelity service. You will have the tools you need to provide expert support and advice to clients whilst also building positive relationships with employers, opening doors and changing perceptions around mental health.

This will involve:

• Motivating and supporting a caseload of 10-15 clients to gain and sustain paid employment.
• To utilise your lived experience in all communication aspects of your role to inspire hope and role- model sustainable employment in recovery
• To model/mentor a recovery process alongside (and as an aspect of) an employment journey and demonstrate self-management skills and techniques, using own experience of recovery.
• To promote the benefits of employment for those with lived experience of overcoming mental health challenges.
• To provide individualised support to service users once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment, acting as a role model to clients to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person in recovery.
• To promote the service to clinical staff and service users to ensure the service is well utilised.
• To have an understanding of evidenced based IPS employment practice.
• To meet and exceed sustained job outcome targets for people accessing the service.
• To build relationships with clinical teams to generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff, ensuring a multi-disciplinary team approach to supporting individuals to get back to work.
• To support the team in promoting a recovery orientated environment by identifying recovery- focused activities and imparting information and education as required. This would involve promoting courses being delivered by Recovery and Wellbeing College as well as supporting the development of information sessions.
• To maintain a professional relationship with the clients of the programme and with other staff, with particular attention to confidentiality, trust policies and maintenance of professional
• To contribute to the on-going improvement and development of Trust-wide employment

To provide effective in work support to individuals once they secure paid employment to ensure they retain

• To deliver employment workshops, employment surgeries and job clubs with other members of staff as required.
• To work independently, reliably and deliver consistently to deliver effective IPS delivery.
• To work flexibly as required by the individual and employer which may require some working out of normal office hours.
• To adhere to administrative and data capture protocols which record the progress of individuals, and to keep accurate and complete records of casework.
• To ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are adhered to and keep abreast of changing practice within vocational rehabilitation.
• To adhere to CNWL Employment Services policies and service standards.

Training

• To actively participate in own supervision and appraisal including participating in specific peer support supervision with Advanced Lived Experience Employment Specialist for the ongoing development of peer aspects of the
• To participate in Trust mandatory training & development opportunities considered appropriate to the Peer Employment Specialist’s role and as identified in the Personal Development Plan (PDP).
• To undertake the accredited ‘Developing Expertise in Peer Support’ Level 4 module or equivalent.
• To contribute and commit to undertaking monthly supervision and annual appraisal.
• To undertake mandatory training as required including training in the IPS approach
• To actively participate in own continuous professional developmen
• To provide effective in work support to individuals once they secure paid employment to ensure they retain
• To deliver employment workshops, employment surgeries and job clubs with other members of staff as required.
• To offer employment surgeries for service users not able to access the

1. To maintain a professional relationship with the clients of the programme and with other staff, with particular attention to confidentiality, trust policies and maintenance of professional
2. To contribute to the on-going improvement and development of Trust-wide employment

1. To work independently, reliably and deliver consistently to deliver effective IPS delivery.

1. To work flexibly as required by the individual and employer which may require some working out of normal office hours.
2. To adhere to administrative and data capture protocols which record the progress of individuals, and to keep accurate and complete records of caseload work.
3. To ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are adhered to and keep abreast of changing practice within vocational rehabilitation.
4. To adhere to CNWL Employment Services policies and service procedure