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Trust expanding peer support to help more young people and their families

Published on: 22nd April 2024

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) is expanding its Children and Young People (CYP) Peer Support and Involvement Team to provide enhanced support to young people and families who access CYP mental health services.

There are currently four new posts available and alongside welcoming applicants with lived experience of mental health difficulties, there are new roles available for people who have lived experience of accessing the criminal justice system in the past or who have spent time in a local authority care setting, such as in foster care.

Peer support roles are designed for individuals who want to use their own lived experience to help support others who are going through difficult times - offering a non-judgmental space to listen, share relevant experience, and offer hope for the future.

Poppy Sheppard, a senior peer support worker, said: “Whilst our journeys all look different, we are lucky enough to be able to provide a hopeful space for the people we support, where they can have validating conversations with people who ‘get it’.

“We get to meet people where ‘they're at’ physically and mentally. Our support is led by the people we support and it’s also a chance for peer support workers to turn what could've been quite a negative time in our lives into something positive and meaningful.”

As well as supporting young people and families directly by complementing any support and care they are engaging in with CYP services, PSWs also offer a unique and distinct lived experience voice to groups and workshops for young people, parent/carers and/or training for professionals.

Since the team launched in 2017, it has expanded from five PSWs to include 19 lived experience/peer support roles. This includes the development of senior peer support worker and senior lived experience roles to provide progression opportunities.

Abbie Futter, CAMHS Peer Support & Involvement Lead, added: “As a peer support worker’s knowledge comes from personal experience, they can develop a unique professional relationship and perspective that really enhances an individual’s experience of care and treatment, as well improves the way we deliver and develop services.

 

“We really hope that as we continue to develop, we are able have a wide range of identities represented in the peer workforce, helping to ensure that we are reaching as many different individuals and groups as possible.”

You can view the current vacancies below:

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