Senior Peer Support Worker
At a glance
- Band
- Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 07/09/2026
- Closes
- 21/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This role is for a Senior Peer Support Worker within the Complex Emotional Needs (CEN) pathway, part of the Brent Integrated Psychology & Psychotherapy Service. The post-holder will use their lived experience of mental distress and recovery to support service users, embed recovery values, and challenge stigma. They will work directly with individuals and groups, acting as a role model and contributing to the wider lived experience workforce. The position requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills, working flexibly under supervision.
Key responsibilities
- Take a lead role in embedding recovery values within service settings and act as an ambassador of recovery for the Trust.
- Work directly with service users, either one-to-one or in a group setting, and represent them in meetings.
- Provide advice, support, and training opportunities to third sector organisations.
- Promote the use of a coaching role to support service users in developing personal recovery plans.
- Model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate self-management skills and techniques using own experience.
- Assist service users to identify their strengths, personal interests, and goals, providing opportunities for them to direct their own recovery process.
Essential criteria
- Own personal lived experience of recovery from distress which has been understood or diagnosed as Complex Emotional Needs or Personality Disorder
- Experience of having personally used secondary mental health services
- Experience of positively sharing own life experiences, and personal recovery journey, with service users, carers and others
- Experience of working in a range of health and/or social care settings as a peer support worker
- Completed peer support worker training (preferably accredited)
- Evidence of further training in relation to personal recovery principles
- Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery
- Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
- Emotional intelligence and reflectivity with ability to work effectively with others to bring about change in a complex and dynamic organisation
- Ability to challenge issues in relation to stigma, low expectations and discriminatory practice in an effective manner
- Ability to communicate on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, both internally and externally to the Trust
- Ability to act calmly and to respond in a professional manner to distress, disturbance and unpredictability
- Ability to see solutions rather than problems
- Ability to problem solve and create innovative solutions to help empower others
- Ability to work independently, flexibly, reliably and consistently with guidance
- An awareness of behaviour and interactions as meaningful communications
Desirable criteria
- Delivery of Recovery College courses
- Experience of a CEN treatment: MBT; DBT; SPS or Schema therapy
- Accredited certificate in Life Coaching
- Working knowledge of the principles of coproduction
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 5 at £29,970 – £36,483 a year, across England.
This advert: £36,943 – £44,900 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 0d ago · Closes in 15d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Senior Peer Support Worker
The closing date is 21 September 2026
Job summary
Do you have lived experience of mental distress which has been understood as Complex Emotional Needs or diagnosed as personality disorder and have previously worked in a range of settings as a peer support worker, lived experience worker or equivalent role?
If so, an opportunity has arisen for a Senior Peer Support Worker to work as part of the Complex Emotional Needs (CEN) pathway, which is part of the Brent Integrated Psychology & Psychotherapy Service (BIPPS) within the Brent Community Mental Health hubs. This is a unique opportunity for someone with their own lived experience to support the continued effort to embed the authentic values of coproduction within the CEN Pathway.
With support from the Trust-wide CEN Advanced Lived Experience Practitioner, the successful post-holder will work alongside members of BIPPS and the wider Multi-Disciplinary Team within the Brent Community Mental Health Hub to support the development and delivery of the Brent CEN Pathway.
The role is aimed at candidates whose distress can been understood as Complex Emotional Needs or diagnosed as personality disorder and have experiences of having used secondary care mental health services AND previously worked in a range of settings as a peer support worker,
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