What a great time to be joining Team BSMHFT! As part of a brand-new national pilot, we are seeking two enthusiastic Peer Mentors with lived experience of the Criminal Justice system to support service users in our newly commissioned Enhanced RECONNECT Service.

Enhanced RECONNECT (ER) is an exciting NHS England initiative and we are one of just four pilot sites across the UK. The service will support individuals with convictions who have been identified as high risk of harm to the public and have complex health needs which may impact on their risk of reoffending. Convictions may include violent and sexual offences and terrorist act offences. ER will take a partnership approach to ensure that individuals leaving prison have their health and support needs met to reduce their risk of reoffending.

The ER service will be psychologically led and aims to support individuals to better understand and manage their risks, build upon their strengths, learn new skills, and identify and break down barriers to access existing community-based services, using a trauma informed, formulation driven approach with the person at the centre. This exciting role offers the suitable candidate the chance to contribute to the implementation of the ER clinical model, with opportunities to use their lived experience to provide support to service users leaving the Criminal Justice service and reintegrating back into the community.

You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team, including psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, speech therapists, substance use workers and support time and recovery workers. You will be responsible for working with service users, using your own lived experience to encourage, inspire, motivate and assist service users to engage with services in the community and improve their wellbeing. This might include support to attend appointments, finding housing, access education or work, attend social activities, and access care for their physical and mental health needs.

The successful candidate will have lived experience of the Criminal Justice system within the last five years and will ideally have also accessed mental health or substance use or other health or social care service. They may also have experience of homelessness. Candidates will have achieved stability in their lives over the past 18 months and will be willing to work alongside service users, sharing details of their successful journey, to support and inspire them to improve their own wellbeing.

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.

For further information regarding the role, please see the attached job description and person specification

We are unable to support applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work the United Kingdom (UK)