Peer Support Worker - Gender Identity

Job overview

The Sheffield Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) is one of seven specialist services (in addition to further pilot Trans health-services) supporting people who are troubled by their experience of gender identity and its expression, often conflicting with expected social norms of their assigned gender. The service is based at Michael Carlisle Centre in Sheffield. The service is nationally commissioned by NHS England. The service receives referrals from the geographical area covered by NHS England.

Using your own lived experience of gender identity, the post holder will offer emotional support and practical guidance to those people who wish to access the service and to those beginning their journey of transition on the care pathway. The role of peer support will help individuals to gain the maximum benefit from their experience with the clinic.

You will have the desire and passion to improve the quality of life for people in all aspects of their lives which may have been affected by their experience of gender dysphoria.

Main duties of the job

• To draw upon lived experience to enhance the approaches offered to clients using gender identity services
• Supporting people in their personal journey by helping them to identify their strengths, values and aspirations
• Working with people in public places, and a range of community settings; building and maintaining safe and effective relationships
• Contribute to the collaborative planning and review of goals with service users and team members
• To work closely with colleagues as part of the multi-disciplinary team supporting a client using gender identity services
• To work with a diverse group of people either in groups or individually
• To provide peer support approaches and manage an effective caseload under supervision of senior colleagues in the team
• Support the use of psychological strategies: active listening, problem solving and coping strategies, support for self-management, self-help and self-care
• Helping service users engage with and build connections and a sense of belonging to their local communities and meaningful activities
• To work as part of the team supporting the families or carers of service users
• Support service users to build their understanding and coping skills and autonomy on a one-to-one basis and in therapeutic groups
• To co-produce and deliver training
• To assist in the audit and evaluation of services provided

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will work flexibly in collaboration with others to undertake a number of duties. Below are some examples:

Working with service users and their families or carers:

• To draw upon your lived experience to enhance the approaches offered to those accessing gender identity services
• Understand a person’s experiences in relation to their gender identity
• Ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect
• Aspire to instill hope and optimism
• To work as part of the team providing approaches to support the client with their experience of gender identity
• Build and maintain safe and effective therapeutic recovery relationships
• Contribute to the collaborative planning and review of goals with service users and team members
• Support and enable people to maintain good physical health
• Support people’s use of digital interventions
• Support people using services and staff to develop plans for implementing psychological strategies and implement them collaboratively and creatively using initiative
• To work as part of the team supporting the families or carers of someone using services
• Understand a person’s coping strategies and strengths and support people to use these at times of distress or difficulty
• To enable service users to develop self-management of their condition taking an empowering approach to promote independence (‘doing with’ and empowering, ‘not ‘doing for’ people)
• To recognise increasing risk to alert significant others and the team to respond as needed
• Be responsible for maintaining up-to-date records to reflect service users’ care and treatment packages and needs
• Accurately record the activity related to the contacts/work on the electronic record system (ERS)
• To report untoward incidents and areas of concern as soon as they arise
• Promote anti-discriminatory activities

Working with colleagues as part of a team:

• To work collaboratively with other members of the team and to build and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues
• Support colleagues by promoting systems of work, which promote safe practice
• Contribute to review systems and team meetings

Co-produce therapeutic groups:

• To co-produce and facilitate therapeutic groups for service users designed to support them including helping build their understanding and coping skills
• To assist in the audit and evaluation of groups

Co-produce staff training:

• To co-produce and deliver training (with team members and other Peer Support Workers across SHSC)

Personal responsibilities:

• Work flexibly to meet service needs

Administrative responsibilities:

• Keep clinical records up to date including using mobile working technology in accordance with legislation
• Maintain records to a high standard and record activity data in a timely manner
• Ensure a high standard of written work and support other colleagues to do so
• Support service users to write or contribute to their own clinical notes
• Take responsibility for incident reporting

Service development:

• Contribute to service development and change processes within the team and the SHSC PSW network
• Act as a role model by demonstrating trust values, credibility with the team, the wider health community and external agencies
• Participate in systems and processes to establish and maintain effective communication and confidentiality of information
• Ensure compliance with Trust policies, procedures and guidelines for self and others, by acting and alerting managers or senior clinicians if practice appears to contravene policy, or if concerned about any aspect of service user care
• Adhere to Trust standards of behaviour and expected performance
• Maintain a healthy, safe and secure working environment, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, maintaining accurate documentation and reporting any concerns
• Participate in promotion of the team and PSW to the directorate and wider trust
• Be involved in recruitment processes

Supervision, training, reflective practice and continual professional development:

• To provide peer support approaches which are supervised by more senior colleagues within the team/service
• Take responsibility for own learning and development by recognising and taking advantage of all opportunities to learn, including full participation in PDR appraisal, supervision
• Attend and complete all required Trust Mandatory training as per the Trust Mandatory Training Policy
• Maintain up to date skills and knowledge, and maintain awareness of PSW and health and social care issues, especially those relating to the service area
• Participate in training and induction for new staff
• To attend and contribute to reflective practice and case/ team formulation to encourage compassion and understanding
• Participate in regular individual and group supervision/reflective practice; within the service and PSW colleagues
• Use supervision to understand and reflect to inform and enable people to manage risk effectively
• Participate in the development of the service and the SHSC PSW offer
• To take a proactive stance towards the maintenance of your well-being at work using supervision as appropriate.

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.