Peer support workers

You can become a peer support worker if you match the following criteria:

• You have personal lived experience of mental health challenges, learning disabilities, neurodiversity or caring responsibilities. The exact experience needed will depend on the type of service.
• You can reflect on your personal experiences and the learning you have gained from them. As a peer support worker, you’ll draw on your learnings to connect with others, inspire them and help staff understand what it is like to access services and navigate recovery.
• You can work as part of a team, communicate effectively with a range of professionals and value different perspectives and ideas. You are comfortable sharing and advocating for the lived experience perspective, recognising that others may sometimes have different views.
• You feel ready to use your personal experiences in a purposeful and supportive way and seek support when needed to manage the emotional impact of the role.
• You understand the purpose and principles of peer support. For example, you may have found it helpful to connect with someone who went through something similar and now want to use your own experiences to support others.
• You can build supportive and trusting relationships with others while maintaining clear professional boundaries.
• You can work independently and manage your diary. Some roles require travel to different locations to meet and support people.
• You want to learn and take part in training, reflective supervision and development opportunities to safely carry out the role.
• You have basic IT skills to record notes in electronic systems, or you are willing to develop these skills with support.
   

Things to know before applying for peer support roles:

• We want to hear your voice within your application.

While AI can be useful for checking spelling or wording things, we encourage to write in your own words. Applications written using AI often sound very similar and lack personality and depth. We prefer an honest reflection on what you went through and how this can be of value to others. We do not mark applications down for spelling or grammar.

• Lived experience is not about your work experience.

You need to have lived through and learned to cope with difficulties related to various conditions. Depending on the role, we may require experience of going through difficulties with mental health, neurodiversity, learning disability or caring for another person. Whilst experience of working in services is valuable, peer support roles are based on using your own personal experience to connect with others.

• Peer support is more than sharing your story.

It involves using your experiences purposefully to support others. You may share your story when appropriate, but you also need to be able to listen and remember that everyone’s journey is different.

• Recent use of services does not prevent you from applying.

Decisions are based on individual circumstances and readiness for the role. You don't need to have a perfect life or never experience difficulties again. What is important is having enough self-awareness to understand your own wellbeing, recognise when you need support, and utilise the support available. It’s also crucial to feel comfortable drawing on your experiences in a way that benefits others.

There are also volunteering opportunities as well as smaller pieces of paid involvement work, if you would prefer to start from something smaller. Feel free to contact us to help you reflect on what’s the best for you.

• You will receive training and ongoing support in the role.

This also includes the support outside of your team, to ensure you have a space to honestly reflect on your role and its impact on yourself and others.

• Professional experience is not the same as lived experience.

Whilst experience of working in services is valuable, peer support roles are based on using your own personal lived experience to connect with others.

• A diagnosis is not required.

There is no right type or amount of lived experience. What matters is how you have reflected on those experiences and how you might use them to connect with and support others.

If you are unsure if your experiences are relevant, please apply or get in touch. We recognise that lived experience comes in many forms. We are committed to reducing barriers to employment and creating opportunities for you to bring your unique strengths, insights, and experiences into our services.

We know that thinking about employment can feel daunting, especially if you haven’t worked for a while.

You don’t need to be perfect, we are certainly not!

Reach out to us if you’d like to talk about peer support roles pcn-tr.peersupport@nhs.net

We have created guides to help you apply for peer support roles and to present your lived experience, reflective practice and values clearly. Click the links for more information:

• Peer support application guide
• Applying to be a peer support worker - easy read guide

Here are some comments from patients and colleagues about the impact peer support has had for them.

Patient comments about peer support:

“Someone experiencing panic attacks may be given advice about techniques to manage them, such as breathing exercises or grounding strategies. While this advice can be valuable, receiving additional advice from someone who has personally experienced panic attacks can offer a different kind of knowledge. They may be able to share practical things that have helped them personally, including small adjustments or approaches that may not necessarily be part of standard practice.

"I found this kind of personal, experience-based advice extremely helpful. It gave me ideas that I may not otherwise have considered and helped me understand that there can be more than one way of managing a difficult experience.

"For me, this is one of the strengths of peer support. It can complement professional advice by bringing in the practical knowledge that comes from actually living through the experiences being discussed.”

Patient comments about peer support in therapy groups:

“She would always ask if it was okay for her to share something before doing so. This small but important gesture made me feel that she genuinely had our best interests at heart and was mindful of our individual boundaries and experiences.”

 “She would often then share something from her own experience that related to the subject we were discussing. I often recognised aspects of myself in what she was saying, which helped me feel less alone and reminded me that some of the thoughts, feelings and experiences I had were not unique to me. This also reduced the shame i had attached to the subject.”

“Hearing another person openly talk about their own experiences can make someone feel less abnormal, embarrassed or alone. For me, this was incredibly powerful.

"There were multiple subjects that came up during the sessions that I felt we collectively found difficult to share because of the shame attached to them. There were behaviours that had made me feel like a monster, and I had often assumed that I was alone in experiencing or thinking these things.

“When she shared an example from her own experience, I was always struck by her courage and openness. What also stood out to me was how quickly the atmosphere in the room could change. Something that might initially have felt uncomfortable or shameful could suddenly be met with empathy, understanding and resonance. Hearing someone speak openly seemed to make it easier for others to recognise the humanity behind the experience, rather than simply judging the behaviour itself.”

“I wouldn’t be getting out as much if it wasn’t for my peer support worker.”

“She helped me to step out of my front door for the first time in 3 years.”

“Knowing that my peer support worker can still sometimes struggle, makes me feel like there is some hope for me too.”

“She gave me the confidence that I could get better, genuinely.”

“It makes me feel hopeful, that someone who’s been through services uses their mental health struggles in a positive way”

“Having someone who has gone through something similar felt like a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Practitioners comments about peer support:

“You made a big impact on my client and you’re clearly a source of inspiration for her.”

“Great support to me as a practitioner in ensuring content of the group is patient-friendly and appropriate.”

“She brings warmth, lived experience and fun to the group. She really understands how to communicate with patients in a way they understand."