Organisation: South Lakeland Mind

Salary Details: £23,400

Closing date for applications: 13 Jul 2017

37 hours per week £23,400 Fixed Term Contract to 31/12/2019

South Lakeland Mind is a successful and growing mental health charity that supports over 250 people each year through Counselling and Peer Support delivered by a team of 6 staff and over 80 volunteers.

Getting Cumbria to Work is a new project led by Cumbria CVS and funded through Building Better Opportunities that aims to provide support to individuals across south Cumbria to overcome the barriers to accessing and sustaining work.

South Lakeland Mind has been appointed by Cumbria CVS to provide support to individuals experiencing mental health issues and is therefore appointing a Peer Support Officer to

• Conduct outreach to generate self-referrals and referrals from partners and other Mind services
• Complete initial client assessments to jointly agree goals and identify and access appropriate support
• Provide ongoing support including regular reviews

Specifically they will deliver a programme of personalised support to enable clients to progress closer to or into the workplace including

• Delivering one to one and/or group support for 57 individuals in Barrow in Furness, Kendal and Ulverston – the client would be supported by the Peer Support Worker and a team of volunteers to achieve the goals they have identified through weekly one to one and/or group support over 3 to 6 months – support will be tailored to the needs of clients and group sessions and will include activities that promote wellbeing as well as activities that provide new skills and experience
• Facilitating 40 work placements within Mind in Furness, South Lakeland Mind and Ulverston Mind – placements would be delivered by local Mind staff and tailored to the needs of clients and could include opportunities to gain skills and experience in administration, communications, fundraising, and retail as well as assisting with the delivery of other peer support services.
• Referring clients to other Getting Cumbria to Work partners to provide additional support – clients will be able to access a wide range of support according to their needs including support to address issues such as debt, drug and alcohol misuse, homelessness etc and to gain new skills and experience.

Additionally the Peer Support Officer will support the delivery of Getting Cumbria to Work by providing one to one support to clients supported by other partners and mental health awareness training for partners with the aim of increasing the number of clients who improve their mental health and overall wellbeing.

The Peer Support Officer will recruit, train and support a team of volunteers who will provide one to one support and organise and deliver group support.   The Peer Support Officer will allocate clients to one to one and/or group support accordingly to their needs and will regularly review this with both clients and volunteers.   The Peer Support Officer will also directly provide one to one support and or organise and deliver group support if volunteers cannot be recruited and/or clients require a higher level of support.

South Lakeland Mind will deliver Getting Cumbria to Work in partnership with Mind in Furness and Ulverston Mind.   It is expected that approximately 50% of the clients (and therefore one to one and group support and placements) will be provided in Barrow in Furness with the remaining 50% split equally between Kendal and Ulverston.   The Peer Support Officer could therefore be based with Mind in Furness in Barrow or with South Lakeland Mind in Kendal and will need to work flexibly between Barrow, Kendal and Ulverston.

A job description, person specification and application form can be obtained by emailing info@slmind.org or by calling 01539 740591 and should be returned by email to info@slmind.org by no later than 12pm on 13th July. Interviews will be held in Kendal on 17th July. For an informal discussion about the role please call David Beuzeval (South Lakeland Mind) on 01539 740591. Appointment will be subject to references and DBS checks.