Band 3 Peer Mentor - Health and Justice Vulnerability Service (HJVS)

This is an exciting opportunity, to join the NHS as a peer mentor, for an 18 month period. Utilise your lived experience to enhance and engage those individuals who are entrenched within the criminal justice system.
BSMHFT are recruiting peer mentors directly for the first time and we are looking for someone who is:
+ Passionate about making a positive impact in your community
+ Believe in the power of support and empathy in the journey towards recovery
+ Have your own lived experience of the Criminal Justice System and/or additional needs such as Veteran/Substance Misuse/Mental Health/Neurodiversity
+ Experience of accessing support services and how these experiences have affected them.
+ Experience of achieving goals that they have set in relation to multiple needs and having achieved a level of stability for at least 12 months and be willing to share details of their successful journey with clients.
+ And do not have licencing conditions from previous offences
If this is you, apply to become a Peer Mentor with Health and Justice Vulnerability Service!
Health and Justice Vulnerability Service covers various locations throughout the city supporting individuals in the journey throughout the Criminal Justice System pathway.
The successful applicant will be an integrated member of the Multi Disciplinary Team supporting colleagues in engaging service users throughout all of the pathways., The main aims of the peer mentor role are:
+ Creating trust and rapport with people often defined as 'hard to reach'.
+ Increasing the length and frequency of engagement.
+ Create trust in services.
+ Enable people to talk more openly about themselves and their situation.
+ Enable people to access the services they need.
+ Provide practical and emotional support - having time to listen, supporting people to attend appointments.
+ Inspire hope in people using the criminal justice system.
+ Inspire people working in the criminal justice system (including HJVS workers) by seeing visible recovery and learning from the lived experience perspective.
The peer mentor will establish a rapport with those who are disenfranchised, those who revolve through the Criminal Justice and Health systems and who do not engage with statutory services. Peer workers knowledge and experience will also support the development of the service to improve quality and improve service user experience.
Peer mentoring will be available as an option to individuals throughout their HJVS journey, especially those individuals who are failing to engage with the practitioners and/or Support Time Recovery Workers (STR).
Peer mentors will not hold a stand alone caseload but will enhance the work carried out by the practitioners and the STR workers., Offers of employment will be based on satisfactory risk assessment, DBS, two references and proof of right to work in the UK. Advertisement will be carried out in line with Trust Policy.
Our Trust is committed to treating individuals fairly and ensuring they have the same opportunities to fulfil their potential, even if this means doing things differently for different people sometimes. We are working hard to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity within Birmingham and Solihull and that our services meet the needs of all diverse service users and carers.
The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of our safe recruitment practice pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. As part of the selection process you may be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, however all cases of criminal record history are dealt with on a case by case basis.
Please note, if applicable for your role you will be required to cover the cost of your DBS certificate. This will be deducted from your salary over 3 months. You will also be required to sign up to the DBS Update Service before commencement with the Trust.
All successful applicants will be required to complete the Trust's induction programme. The Fundamental (Statutory and Mandatory) training will be in an e-learning format. You will be required to complete training modules online (approx. 9-14 hours depending on post) by the end of your first week with us.
If you are successful at the shortlisting stage of the recruitment process we may contact you via email to advise you of the interview details. Please ensure you access your email account from which you applied regularly once the position has closed.
If applicable to your role, the Trust will require you to sign up for the DBS Update Service. The subscription will cost you £13 a year but the Trust will reimburse this. You will be contractually obliged to maintain your subscription.
Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Please note that from January 2021, to work in the UK all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here Browse: Work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 1. It is vital that you provide full and accurate details of your current immigration status on the application form. Overseas applicants applying for entry clearance into the UK must present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided in continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Not everyone needs a 'Skilled Worker' visa. If you are applying for a vacancy in health or adult social care, check if you're eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead. It's cheaper to apply for and you do not need to pay the annual immigration health surcharge.

+ An interest in a career working to support vulnerable individuals who are experiencing multiple and complex needs.
+ Basic computer skills, including word processing, internet and email systems and a desire to develop and learn new skills.

Working for our organisation
Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.
Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.