The Lead Lived Experience Practitioner will work as a member of the Patient Engagement and Experience Team, liaising with key stakeholders and colleagues, to develop and implement a local strategy for rollout of Lived Experience.
They will represent those with lived experience as services user and/or carer, on key Trust and MH strategic groups, and will establish and lead Lived Experience Advisory Panels (LEAPs) to ensure that service user views are taken account of in consultations on key issues relating to mental health service development.
Collaborating with key leads and line managers of LXPs across the MH Division, they will be responsible for assisting in recruiting, developing, supporting and supervising LXPs. They will participate in the development, evaluation and promotion of the Lived Experience initiative across Berkshire.
The postholder will work closely with colleagues in the MH Division as well as more widely to promote, develop and embed the principles of recovery-orientated practice and to support the wider strategic development and ongoing delivery of the Trust’s Peer Support and Lived Experience workforce.
With practice based supervision from a designated clinician, they will work alongside an agreed number of service users to provide formalised peer support and self-management assistance on a 1:1 basis to help promote recovery.
• Liaise with key stakeholders and colleagues to develop a local strategy for roll-out of Lived Experience roles to support this work, including identifying where lived experience roles are sited for maximum effect and outcome, holding specific responsibility for supporting Lived Experience Practitioners alongside the designated line managers, as these roles are developed.
• Support the lived experience practitioners and LEAP members in delivering all aspects of their work programme, incorporating their lived experience in strategic meetings related to service developments and the wider strategy for peer and lived experience roles in the organisation
• Work in co-production with the services, ensuring that planned/contracted activities are carried out as required
• Contribute to internal and external meetings to ensure that lived experience roles and perspectives are integral.
• Promote and assist in coordination of lived experience practitioner recruitment
• Promote positive understanding, awareness and attitudes towards significant mental health needs as part of day-to-day duties.
• Participate in, and actively contribute to Lived Experience Practitioner supervision, mandatory training and team meetings, and organisational events as required
Your base will be at London House in Bracknell, however we promote home working. The post is for 37.5 hours per week, and we are happy to see how we can make these hours flex to fit both the needs of the service and your work/life balance.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:
• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Excellent learning and career development opportunities
• ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
• Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
• Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
• Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
• Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
• Free parking across Trust sites
The “must haves” for this role:
1. Educated to degree level in a relevant subject, or equivalent experience.
2. Lived experience, as a service user and/or carer, of significant mental health problems.
3. Experience of effectively utilising one’s lived experience perspectives and insights in a strategic leadership role, including service redesign, service improvement and policy development.
4. Working knowledge of staff groups dynamics - including the ability to facilitate and encourage consideration of service user views
For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.
We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact Elizabeth Chapman, Head of Service Engagement and Experience , via email elizabeth.chapman@berkshire.nhs.uk who’ll be delighted to help.
Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.
Interview will be held on 28th Nov 2024
This advert closes on Monday 4 Nov 2024
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