Do you want have lived experience of an eating disorder?

Are you keen to to be part of a highly supportive, multi-disciplinary team, who are forwarding thinking and fully support staff development?

The Wiltshire Community Eating Disorder Service (WCEDS) is looking for a Peer Support Worker who is passionate about making a difference to adults who are suffering with an eating disorder.

You will be part of a team of dedicated and experienced multi-disciplinary professionals working with adults with eating disorders.

With a reputation for excellence, our service provides a stepped model of care tailored to the individual’s needs for stabilisation and recovery. We offer a range of programmes and evidence-based treatments to assist with this. We are a friendly, energetic and dynamic team who are proactive and visionary, focusing on excellent patient-centred care.

Within this post, you will provide peer support for adults with eating disorders, in a community setting across Wiltshire and Swindon.

We are working towards a culture where services from across the whole system work together to deliver positive and seamless experiences of care for adults with an eating disorder.

To be eligible for the role you must have lived experience of Eating Disorders , all new PSWs are provided Peer Support Foundation training.

Lived experience:
Drawing on lived experience of mental health to provide emotional and practical support to promote recovery.
To support service users to engage effectively with care being offered and access appropriate services
Drawing upon lived experience, use active listening to inspire hope, offer empathy, empowerment, confidence building & validate a service users’ feelings
To build relationships founded on the value of mutuality which will facilitate the provision of regular and practical support, one to one and via group facilitation, to service users in developing and managing independence and maintaining dignity and self-respect
Where appropriate challenge discrimination and reducing the stigma of mental ill health.
To positively promote independent living of service users through role-modelling individual recovery journeys
To have the individual service user’s needs always at the forefront of practice and to use skills incorporated in Peer Support Training to underpin practice
To build rapport with service users, whilst maintaining professional boundaries, drawing on experience and knowledge of the service user perspective and an evidence-based approach.

This post is based in Savernake Hospital, Wilts. The role requires a driver’s licence & access to a vehicle. The PSW can work between 22.5 – 37.5 hours p/w. Please discuss preferred working days/hours at interview.

Please note that this role will require us to undertake a DBS check as a part of your onboarding.

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Peer Support Workers (PSWs) are people who have their own lived experience of mental health challenges or have supported/cared for someone with mental health challenges. They use empathy informed by their own experiences to support service users/families who are accessing mental health services.

We’re looking for people who are compassionate, can work well in a team, highly motivated and have excellent written and verbal communication skills. You will be provided with training for the role and given the opportunity to complete the national recognised care certificate.

The peer support worker role sees the introduction of lived experience into everyday practice. PSW’s offer a combination of group and one to one work and will work within the multi-disciplinary team to support a service users recovery journey. The post holder will facilitate formal and informal learning, working with staff in clinical practice and supporting clinical teams to develop recovery-based practice.

The core function of this post is to offer peer support to service users within Eating Disorders. The peer support worker will demonstrate best practice in relation to the application of recovery principles to practice. Peer Support Workers model the recovery principles together with personal responsibility, self-awareness and self-care whilst undertaking the duties of the role.