The Roles, Responsibilities and Tasks of Peer Support Workers in Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust (CWPT): A Service Review

Authors: Laura Dunkerley, Assistant Psychologist, Martin Jordan, Senior Peer (Recovery) Support Worker.

Supported By: Stacy Cooper, Recovery Lead, Gary Willington, Lead Psychologist for Community Psychosis Services.

Date: November 2024

Introduction

Peer support workers are a recognised professional group who draw on their lived experience of mental health, learning disabilities or autism to provide support and guidance to others1.This lived experience can come from their own experience, or through indirect experience as a family member, friend or carer. Peer support work can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives through sharing lived experience, offering emotional and practical support, and inspiring hope.

Peer support worker (PSW) roles have a long history within the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, and were first introduced into UK mental health services in 2009 by a small number of NHS Trusts. PSW roles have now been rolled out across the country and were first introduced into the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust (CWPT) workforce in January 2021. Since then, more than 25 PSWs have been employed across the Trust in community mental health services, with plans to expand into inpatient services in the future.  

Subsequently, a review of peer support in CWPT was completed to advise the development of a peer support strategy in February 20232. This review focused on the development and contribution of PSWs in CWPT, as well as the successes, challenges and opportunities experienced by PSWs in the workplace. The results of this review highlighted a key concern of PSWs and their employers around the lack of clarity surrounding the roles, responsibilities, and tasks of PSWs. Moreover, all PSWs who participated in the review’s focus group emphasised the need for role clarity, for themselves as PSWs, as well as the teams that they work in.