Do you have lived experience of Personality Disorder, are passionate about supporting others with similar experiences through inspiring hope for the future? Then this role is for you.
We are recruiting for a Peer Support Worker to join the Service User Network (SUN) within Oxford Health, Buckinghamshire. This vacancy is an excellent opportunity for people with lived experience of difficulties commonly associated with Personality Disorders. Peer Support Workers (PSW’s) are people who have their own lived experience of mental health challenges. They use empathy informed by their own experiences to support service users who are accessing mental health services and their families.
The SUN Peer Support Worker will be working closely with mental health practitioners to deliver regular SUN groups in different community-based locations across Buckinghamshire.
The SUN is an initiative aimed at improving services for people with personality disorders. It provides community-based, open access peer support groups
SUN employs therapeutic community principles, which include engaging group members in the running, delivery, development and evaluation of the service. The utilisation of SUN members’ own resources and expertise is integral to the model of peer support upon which the SUN groups are based.
SUN facilitators will have regular supervision and support in this role, including access to a peer support network and appropriate training.
Main duties of the job
- Use your own lived experience of Personality Disorder (or associated difficulties) to inspire hope, drawing on empathy and understanding informed by your own experiences to support those accessing services.
- Co-facilitate SUN peer support groups, offer empathy, empower group members, encouraging them to build their own support networks and resources.
- Support engagement of new members or those considering joining SUN or group based services by offering engagement calls where a need for this has been identified.
- Reduce stigma by role‑modelling recovery journeys and challenging discrimination with compassion.
- The primary base for the role is The Whiteleaf Centre in Aylesbury, but you will be expected to work across multiple venues across Buckinghamshire, so the ability to travel independently between sites within the Trust is essential for this role.
What we’re looking for
- Lived experience of personality disorder or associated difficulties
- Experience working in a peer support worker or expert by experience role
- Experience of group work and understanding of group dynamics (either as a facilitator or as a service user)
- Ability to reflect, work well in a team and be flexible
- Able to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
- Able to use lived experience to show empathy, act as a role model, hold hope and challenge stigma.
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