Open Mental Health - Peer Volunteer – Crisis Safe Space

About the role:

As a Peer Volunteer you will be working alongside Senior staff and Crisis workers within Crisis Safe Space. The Crisis Safe Space was co-designed by local people with experience of mental health difficulties, who wanted more support available in the community rather than at hospital. The service has been designed for people experiencing acute emotional distress who need immediate and short-term crisis prevention rather than intensive support from either an emergency or inpatient service. As an alliance member of Open Mental Health, we work in close partnership with Second Step, Somerset Foundation Trust and other OMH partners.

Bringing your lived experience, you will have the desire to support and encourage others on their individual recovery journeys. You will be able to clearly draw upon and share, your own experiences of mental health challenges and services in order to inspire, model, and inform others in similar situations and support them in finding their own path to recovery.

You will be providing a specialized role within the Crisis Safe Space Team in either Yeovil or Taunton. As part of the wider team, you will start to build a trusting relationship with individuals while they are accessing the Crisis Safe Space and your role will be to meet and greet, assist with any enrolment/paperwork, and offer support with signposting and feedback. You will work alongside the senior and recovery navigators, meaning you will have access to constant support and guidance.

What tasks will be involved?

· Establishing a trusting and collaborative relationship with the service-user, working with them in Crisis Safe Space, providing sensitive, collaborative, and non-judgemental support when they first arrive.

· Completing enrolment and feedback paperwork collaboratively with the service user.

· Supporting family members who visit with their loved one, ensuring they feel supported and listened to whilst they wait.

· Completing follow-up and check in calls with previous users of the service.

· Gathering and compiling feedback from previous users of the service.

To identify additional community-based support networks and implementing group-based peer support events for users of the service.

· To link people to training, volunteering/employment activities.

· To maintain hope and optimism for the individual with high expectations for recovery, use lived experience to positively support the individual’s recovery.

· Listening, sharing and valuing the process of those you work with.

· Providing practical information and signposting.

· Supporting the smooth and safe transfer into other services.

· Showing understanding, acceptance and empathy based on shared experience

· Supporting individuals to develop ideas for coping strategies and problem-solving skills

· Help individuals identify their own hopes, dreams and aspirations and to explore opportunities and ways to realise them

Who should apply for this role?

We are looking for Peer Volunteers who have:

· Lived experience of mental health.

· Personal experience of recovery from mental health challenges.

· The desire and ability to share personal experiences of mental health and recovery to support, empower and bring hope to others.

· The capacity to manage their own mental health needs.

· An awareness of self-management resources and coping strategies.

· An ability to empathise with others and form trusting relationships.

· A non-judgemental approach and an ability to maintain appropriate boundaries.

· Good listening and communication skills, reliability and good time keeping.

· An ability to take responsibility for your own self-care and willingness to utilise the support and supervision provided by the Senior Volunteer Coordinator.

Where and when will I volunteer?

The Crisis safe Space is an out of hours service open daily between the hours of 17:30 and 23:00. We welcome applications to those who can commit to a minimum of 1 evening per week.

What support will I get?

Prior to starting your volunteer position, you will complete a comprehensive training programme with our partner agency, Watch CIC, who are specialists in developing Peer Volunteer relations.

Once in role, you will be supported by both the Senior Crisis worker and the Project Lead who will provide support as and when needed, as well as regular discussion about your reflections (sometimes called ‘supervision’).

Is a DBS Check required for this role?

YES, a DBS Check (Disclosure & Barring Service) is required for this role. You will be supported by the Project Lead. Any disclosures will be discussed on a case-by-case basis and will not automatically stop you from being involved.