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Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

About

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is one of the largest trusts in the UK, caring for people with a wide range of physical and mental health needs. We have approximately 7,000 staff who provide healthcare to a third of London's population and across wider geographical areas, including Milton Keynes, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire.

As a Foundation Trust we involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run and our future development. If you are interested in becoming a member of our Foundation Trust please visit: www.cnwl.nhs.uk

(source: Central and North West London NHS Foundation NHS Trust website)

Contact

Address: 350 Euston Road; Regent's Place; London; London; NW1 3AX
Contact Number: 02032145700

Find out more

Jobs Website

Open

Ref: 333-G-ED-0475-A Vacancy ID: 7940621

Carer/Parent Peer Support Worker

Accepting applications until: 29-Apr-2026 23:59

Vacancy status: Open

Accepting applications until: 29-Apr-2026 23:59

Location

Site: Vincent Square Eating Disorder Service
Address: 1 Nightingale Place
Town: London
Postcode: SW10 9NG
Major / Minor Region: London

Contract type & working pattern

Contract: Permanent
Hours: Part time - 22.5 hours per week (Monday-Friday)

Salary

Salary: £33,094 - £36,195 pro rata per annum incl. HCAS
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (NHS AfC: Band 4)

Specialty

Main area: Lived Experience Workforce

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

1. To work with the multi-disciplinary teams across both the adult and child and adolescent eating disorder service in the support of parents/carers of young people accessing eating disorder services, ensuring the needs or parents/carers are met through promoting strengths-based practice

2. To assume a ‘coaching’ role supporting parent/carers in thinking about their own personal recovery plans in relation to being a parent/carer; this can be delivered individually or in groups.

3. To be supported to develop, create promotional materials and undertake a ‘carers clinic’ - a one to one, short term intervention for friends and family of the current cohort of service users, supporting them to develop skills and attend to their own mental health while being in the caring role.

4. To work with members of the MDT to create and utilise evaluation tools in order to assess the impact of the role

5. To assist parents/carers to identify their own strengths, personal interests and goals, emphasising the importance of their own wellbeing in order to best support the person accessing services.

6. To support parents/carers in making sense of the experiences of mental and emotional distress of the young person they are parent/carer to and involving the young person in these conversations as much as possible and appropriate. This might include understandings of personal and social recovery, health and wellbeing, personal and social identity whilst recognising that each individual’s recovery is a distinctive and deeply personal process.

7. To support parents/carers in making sense of their own experiences of mental and emotional distress in relation to the challenges the young person is facing, being highly sensitive to their use of language and descriptions of experiences.

6. To share wisdom, mentor around recovery processes and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of caring for a young person who has experienced recovery from an eating disorder.

7. To act as a role model to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person who has cared for a young person in recovery.

8. To work with some autonomy with complex safety considerations for individuals across community and inpatient contexts

9. Working jointly with highly skilled colleagues from a variety of professional backgrounds to develop and co-facilitate carer interventions and ensure co-production is modelled within the care provided

10. To be attuned to sensitive safeguarding issues as they may present within the relevant cohort of patients, their friends and family and is able to utilise supervision to ensure safety and risk is managed in a recovery focussed, timely manner.

11. To attend team meetings and contribute to the assessment, planning, implementation and review of care with the multi-disciplinary team.

12. To work together with the young person and their parents/carers in the drawing up of care plans, encouraging and motivating young people and their parents/carers to take an active role in the care plan.

13. To incorporate and promote the ‘Triangle of Care’ within MDT working practice and decision making.

14. To positively promote and support parents/carers’ engagement in the community by maintaining extensive knowledge and links with community resources and actively supporting parents/carers to access them, maximising parent’s/carer’s opportunities for socially valued roles and positive identity.

15. To assist in the development and implementation of educational and peer facilitated parent/carer support groups and activities.

16. To assist parents/carers to maintain a connection with their life beyond being a parent/carer of a young person accessing services.

17. To accept and respect parent/carer’s personal beliefs, uniqueness and identity.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI can be used as a support tool, not a replacement for the applicant’s own work. Applications must remain personal, accurate, and reflective of the candidate’s real experience. AI-generated content must not misrepresent skills, qualifications, or experience. Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct. Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process.

Vaccination

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system
Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

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.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria

Commitment to obtain underpinning knowledge through work based learning and mandatory training Completion of Level 4 City University accredited course “Developing Expertise in Peer Support” course

Desirable criteria

Accredited certificate in Life Coaching
Accredited peer support worker training

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

Own personal lived experience of caring for a young person who has experienced recovery from an eating disorder
Own personal lived experience of caring for a young person who has accessed Eating Disorder Services
Paid or unpaid working experience in health and social care
Developed plans for managing own wellbeing
Willing to positively share own life experiences, and personal experience of caring for someone with an eating disorder with young people, parents/carers and families
Experience of actively supporting individuals to identify and work towards achieving personal goals in a related social care or health setting (paid or unpaid)

Desirable criteria

Paid or unpaid peer support worker experience
Paid or unpaid experience of working with individuals with an eating disorder
Paid or unpaid experience of working with parents/carers/families

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities

Essential criteria

Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery
Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
Evidence of good interpersonal skills and an ability to form peer relationships with service users and carers
Ability to communicate on all levels and to a broad scope of individuals, both internally and externally to the Trust
Ability to demonstrate empathy, compassion and patience
An ability to act calmly and to respond in a professional manner to distress, disturbance and unpredictability
Ability to problem solve and create innovative solutions to help empower service users
Understanding of issues arising from experiencing mental ill health
Sensitive understanding of diversity issues and an ability to promote anti-discriminatory practice/ equal opportunities
Ability to demonstrate practical skills to provide support with daily living activities