Carer Peer support worker

The East London Community Forensic Service (ELCFS) is an enhanced multidisciplinary service providing care, treatment and support for service users in the process of and following discharge from the Forensic inpatient services in the ELFT(Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney) and NELFT(Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Havering)localities.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a carer to carer peer support worker to work in our service for 1 day a week (7.5hrs).

The successful candidate will use their direct, personal, lived experience of using mental health services as a carer to work collaboratively with the clinical team to support identified carers

The successful candidate will work as an integral and highly valued member of the Multi disciplinary team to facilitate and lead on carer-centres activities, which inspire hope and opportunities for carers. In addition, you would work collaboratively with carers to provide education and support as their loved ones make the critical transition from hospital into the community.

The successful candidate will be providing service to one or more of the NELFT or ELFT localities covered by ELCFS.

For further details / informal visits contact:
Banza Mulumba, Service Manager

Banza.mulumba@nhs.net

About the team:
The ELFT Forensic Service has been identified as a pilot site to deliver a two-year Secure Specialist Community Forensic Team(SCFT). The aims are to prevent avoidable admissions, reduce length of stay in hospital, support the recovery of people leaving secure care and enhance the role of carers in supporting recovery.

This is a significant development for the ELFT Forensic Service which has historically been largely an inpatient service.

The central ethos of the service is supporting service users on the journey to recovery. Key to this is recognition of the essential role that carers play in supporting their loved ones throughout their day-to-day lives and the appreciation that carers often have the most comprehensive knowledge of service users as individuals. The role of a carer can be extremely stressful and demanding. As service users leave hospital and make the transition into the community, it is recognised that this will be a critical time for service users and it will be essential to ensure that both service users and their carers are supported especially robustly during this time.

While support for carers will be provided by the clinical team, (as with any service), the role of the Carer to Carer Peer Support Worker has been created so that an individual with lived experience as a carer of adults with mental illness can join the team and bring their unique experience and perspective with them.

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Kindly refer to the job description and person specification that is attached to the vacancy profile.