Lived Experience Support Worker

Job Description:

Have you experienced what it's like to lose control of your life because of drugs or alcohol? At With You, we want to reach out to people who may feel like you did and reduce the harm they may be doing to themselves, supporting them to get back to where they want to be.

Your personal experiences will provide invaluable insight for your colleagues and a credible, empathetic link for our clients. 

If you are passionate about helping others facing the problems caused by drugs and alcohol, then this might be just the job you are looking for.

About the job

You will act as a champion for our clients, sharing your experiences and knowledge and showing change is possible. This means offering a safe space for them to share what it's like for them so we can understand their needs and design a support plan that's right for them.

You'll be part of our amazing Recovery Worker team, offering support to those who have difficulty accessing it and working alongside our partner support services to ensure each client receives the full package of support needed to keep them safe.

We'll also welcome your ideas as to how we can develop our support offering to be even more effective and so help more people.

Benefits:

• 28 days holiday plus a bank holiday allowance (pro rata for part-time staff)
• Enhanced employer pension contribution
• Life assurance benefit scheme
• Flexible working patterns to help with work-life balance
• Diverse package of training and development opportunities
• 24/7 access to employee assistance programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme

Additional Information:

This is a part-time post for 18.75 hours per week. The location for this post is Liskeard.

Essential Skills:

To be successful in this job you will need to:

• have personal lived experience of drugs or alcohol
• have completed your treatment at least 12 months ago
• be knowledgeable and compassionate around the issues affecting people who use drugs or alcohol
• be equally willing to work with anyone regardless of their ethnic, cultural or social background, their gender, age, religious belief, disability or sexual orientation
• understand what a positive user experience looks like including quality care
• be able to engender trust to build relationships with clients while maintaining professional boundaries
• be able to work under instruction as part of a team
• be able to build good working relationships with colleagues and other support providers
• have a good standard of written and spoken communication
• be comfortable using IT including email, Word and internet 
• be able to manage your time responsibly and effectively
• have an awareness of and the ability to promote all types of recovery models
• willingness to work occasional Saturday shifts
• commitment to the organisation’s Guiding Principles and Behaviours
• willingness to use personal experience to engage and motivate service users

You will also need to meet our safeguarding requirements of a satisfactory enhanced DBS check

In order for us to fully consider your application, you should provide a CV and a supporting statement which addresses the criteria, and stating your reasons for applying, and what you feel you can bring to the role.  

Desired Skills:

If you also have some or all of the following, that would be an advantage but not essential:

• other personal lived experience such as homelessness, mental health, criminal justice
• other working or volunteering experience
• an understanding or experience of developing activities and initiatives based on service user feedback
• more developed interpersonal communication such as presentation or negotiating skills
• proven experience of identifying a problem and developing a solution
• experience of supporting people managing a personal change
• driving licence and use of a car

About Company:

Everyone should feel comfortable getting the support they need for issues with drugs, alcohol or mental health.

At We Are With You we work with people on their own goals, whether that’s staying safe and healthy, making small changes or stopping an unwanted habit altogether. We give people support in a way that’s right for them either face to face in their local service, community or online.

We provide a free and confidential service without judgement to more than 100,000 people a year. 

We use our expertise to improve the help available and raise awareness around drugs, alcohol and mental health so that more people can get support.

We Are With You.