Peer Support Worker

Peer Support Worker South Dublin

Contract Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Hours of Work: 78 hours fortnightly, Monday to Friday

The Hospital provides a spectrum of neuropsychiatric services to adults with a range of serious and enduring mental health needs such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's Diseases, as well as individuals with early onset dementias, schizophrenia, and mood disorders.

This care is delivered through a Multidisciplinary Team including colleagues in Psychiatry, Psychology, Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language, Dietetics, Physiotherapy, and General Practice.

Purpose of the post:

The role of the Peer Support Worker has been developed for people who have lived experience of having received mental health care services. By sharing wisdom from their own experience, Peer Support Workers can inspire hope and belief that recovery is possible. Peer Support Workers can provide practical support and assistance to the patient in order to regain control over their own lives and their own recovery process. They can share information, promote choice, self-determination and opportunities to fulfil their personal values and connect to local communities.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Assume a "Coaching" role supporting patients in developing personal recovery plans; this can be delivered individually or in groups.
• Assist the patient to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals.
• Provide opportunities for service users to direct their own recovery based on the recovery principles of "hope", "control" and "opportunity".
• Facilitate the patient to identify solutions, set goals, plan and move through and beyond the service.
• Model/mentor a recovery process and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of recovery.
• Contribute, as appropriate, from a recovery perspective to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multi-disciplinary team.
• Work together in a solution-focused way with the patient and their carers or named person, encouraging and motivating individuals to take an active role in their own recovery including goal planning, in line with agreed care plans.
• Provide patients with appropriate support and guidance in the management of their mental health; monitoring progress and providing feedback to the multi-disciplinary team.
• Promote and support independent living for patients, involvement in their local community and connections with family, friends and significant others.
• Help prepare and accompany the patient to appointments, therapeutic or social community based activities as appropriate.
• Assist the patient to understand their rights and choices within the service and the supports available to access these.
• Notify the Staff Nurse of any change in the patient's circumstances and maintain all written records as instructed.
• Report any untoward incidents, complaints or unusual occurrences to the Clinical Nurse Manager.
• Participate in regular supervision sessions and work with Supervisor on ensuring that patients' progress is relevant to their individual needs in line with agreed care plans.
• Attend handover, regular team and staff meetings.
• Liaise with the Clinical Nurse Manager regarding leave entitlements and adhere to Health Services policies and procedures.
• Have a good working knowledge of the Mental Health Commission standards and judgement support framework as they apply to the role.

The successful candidates will meet the following requirements:

• Hold a Qualification in Peer Support Working in Mental Health.
• Have a minimum of 1 years' post qualification experience as a Peer Support Worker.
  • Previous experience in a psychiatric hospital environment is an advantage.
• Have experience in adult mental health services/rehabilitation mental services services/community based mental health services.
• Have completed Wellness Recovery Action Programme (WRAP) training and experience of operating this model of care.
• Possess a strong knowledge of the Mental Health Commission requirements.
• Have a good knowledge and experience of health, safety and other statutory regulations affecting a healthcare organisation.
• Demonstrate evidence of continuing professional development.