0:05 [Music]
0:08 welcome Fran thank you so much for um
0:11 being up for joining us for um this
0:14 webinar um I'm just finding my um little
0:16 notes for our conversation I've got them
0:20 here um so in the next 15 minutes we're
0:23 going to start with a bit of the journey
0:26 so far and what we know is that you're
0:28 working as part of a lift experience
0:31 Workforce of 15 colleagues and that
0:33 there is a whole range of roles from
0:35 your own role as trust head of lived
0:38 experience Workforce to Advanced lift
0:41 experience roles peer workers peer
0:43 employment Specialists loads of
0:46 different roles would you tell us a we
0:49 bit more about how um you've got to this
0:52 point and yeah that Journey absolutely
0:54 well yeah thanks so much W and thanks
0:56 for inviting me here today it's a
0:59 pleasure to meet all of you um yeah so I
1:01 mean our J as an
1:04 organization um forly sort of started
1:06 with with peer roles in about
1:09 2012 um so even though we've had lived
1:11 experience roles before then in some of
1:13 our Addiction Services and some of our
1:15 Sexual Health Services it wasn't sort of
1:18 a formal kind of peer role before then
1:21 um so in 2012 um the first some two peer
1:24 support workers were um recruited um as
1:26 part of the organization and when I
1:29 joined the trust uh in 2013 there was
1:31 five workers and one sort of lead so
1:34 it's a really really small team and
1:36 basically we've just been growing ever
1:38 since both kind of in in types of roles
1:40 but also in in the kind of quantity of
1:43 rols we've got so we do have over 150
1:46 rols now um and really the journey has
1:49 been um I mean we've had some great sort
1:53 of support um along the way our CEO um
1:55 really Champions our work um so there's
1:57 a lot of buying and investment sort of
2:00 in our infrastructure and I think what
2:02 became clear really early on is that
2:06 having peer workers um is really good
2:07 but we needed the infrastructure to be
2:09 able to support the roles properly
2:11 there's so much research around actually
2:14 the um the fact that the peer worker and
2:17 lived experience roles really need um
2:20 sort of professional supervision support
2:22 structures around them to thrive in the
2:23 teams that they're in particularly
2:25 because they're often working on their
2:27 own in the teams um in teams that may
2:29 not know much about peer support when
2:32 they first sort of join that um that
2:34 working space so we had you know we were
2:39 able to make um a lot of um a lot of
2:40 kind of changes around how we were
2:42 infrastru the infrastructure so as the
2:44 peer worker Workforce grew we started to
2:46 introduce more senior roles in order to
2:48 be able to support um those and our
2:51 previous head of profession melbour who
2:52 some of you may have heard of before
2:54 really worked quite innovatively and
2:56 pioneered some of our more advanced
2:59 leadership roles um so yeah so that's
3:02 sort of our journey has been um
3:04 certainly kind of propelled by a lot of
3:06 support from lead senior leadership and
3:08 you know getting things wrong along the
3:09 way and really trying to kind of figure
3:11 out the best way to do things um to be
3:13 in a position where we are now with the
3:15 150 roles and really kind of spanning
3:17 lots of um different sort of bands and
3:21 areas um working areas thanks that
3:23 that's really interesting to hear and I
3:24 think um I was going to ask you about
3:26 what some of the key enablers have been
3:28 and I guess like you've touched on some
3:31 of that and what hearing is like that
3:33 topown investment has been really
3:36 fundamental and investment you know
3:37 Financial investment is one thing but
3:39 also that value and recognition of the
3:42 role um that lived experience plays
3:44 within the service and is there anything
3:46 else you'd add to that in terms of
3:48 enablers I mean I think I think the fact
3:51 that we've had the autonomy to be able
3:53 to uh guide our own policies and
3:56 governance around how the p and
3:57 experienced Workforce has grown and the
3:59 infrastructures that we needed around it
4:01 and the voice sort of in within
4:03 leadership kind of in as a sort of lived
4:06 experience leadership um voices have
4:09 been really heard and respected around
4:11 that so um you know when we've seen
4:13 we've been able to hold the line really
4:15 strongly in areas and had the backing
4:18 from sort of senior leadership within
4:20 our exec board to be able to do that so
4:22 I think that's been a huge enabler
4:24 because I know that otherwise sometimes
4:25 sometimes lived experienced workforces
4:28 are led by and run by people that
4:30 without lived experience and you haven't
4:33 actually had the professional experience
4:35 of being in a peer role so be to be able
4:39 to um to kind of lead from that lived
4:40 experience perspective and that
4:42 professional um sort of experience
4:44 perspective and be heard and and
4:46 respected in that way it's been really
4:48 important and I think I think there's
4:51 something about that pathway as well so
4:53 there is there is like a significant
4:57 pathway of roles um and has that evolved
5:00 over time um yeah absolutely so I mean
5:03 we started off with um as I said it was
5:06 sort of a handful of entry level sort of
5:08 band three I don't know if remind me if
5:10 you have similar sort of bandings yeah
5:11 we do have a similar sort of banding
5:13 syst yeah so of entry level band three
5:15 roles so really equivalent to our
5:16 Healthcare assistant and support worker
5:19 roles and then sort of a band Serv lead
5:21 role and that was that was it and over
5:23 time we've evolved in that we've started
5:25 to create a leadership team so we've got
5:27 sort of there's three of us that kind of
5:30 are our Central leadership team and
5:31 we've got sort of our entry-level peer
5:33 support workers we've got band five
5:35 senior peer support workers that provide
5:36 that professional supervision to our
5:38 entry-level roles we've got Advanced
5:40 lived experienced practitioners who not
5:42 only oversee sort of the senior and peer
5:45 lived experience workers that work under
5:48 them but also they they oversee patches
5:50 of our different service areas um
5:52 including sort of not just our Mental
5:53 Health Service areas but addiction
5:55 service that's are Health and Justice
5:57 and they're really sort of the
5:59 leadership team for that specific area
6:00 and they work work much more
6:03 strategically than peer workers might
6:04 usually work so all of our peer and
6:07 Senior work peer workers always work
6:08 much more clinically whereas our
6:09 Advanced experienced practitioners have
6:12 much more of a strategic role um and
6:15 they also lead on the co-production and
6:17 involvement within their specific areas
6:18 so it's not just actually about the peer
6:20 workers that are employed in the
6:21 services but it's also the voices of
6:23 people that are accessing Services right
6:25 now and getting their input and so they
6:27 really lead on that in their specific
6:29 roles and then there's our Central
6:31 leadership team that oversees it all so
6:33 and and really I mean it's it it was
6:36 impossible not to do it this way because
6:39 as as the workforce grew it became
6:41 really difficult for one person to be
6:43 able to you know meaningfully oversee it
6:45 all so it kind of Evol evolved
6:47 organically in that way because it
6:49 became the only sort of yeah the only
6:51 way that we could make it work yeah and
6:53 you can see by the way you're describing
6:55 that you can see how that would evolve
6:57 and that is the Natural Evolution and
7:00 it's really um inspiring to hear that
7:03 that has been allowed and invested in to
7:06 create this whole Workforce um and to
7:10 hear a bit more about the um the
7:12 involvement of people in different
7:14 aspects of activity like more clinical
7:16 activity or the Strategic stuff and
7:17 bringing in that kind of lived
7:20 experience engagement aspect too um
7:22 thanks Fran for that something that you
7:25 have spoken about is the and I think
7:26 what we've um sort of chatted about
7:28 quite a bit is the infrastructure and I
7:30 think you've Illustrated that really
7:32 well and I'm wondering I'm sure I'm
7:34 curious and I'm sure others will be um
7:37 curious to know a bit more about you
7:39 know what does that look like what does
7:41 it mean to you guys and what does it
7:43 look like in practice and I think when
7:44 I'm thinking about infrastructure I'm
7:46 thinking about you know whole whole
7:50 approach to um Recruitment and support
7:51 and reflective practice and all
7:52 development and learning and all of
7:54 those kind of things so tell us a bit
7:57 about that yes absolutely so um yeah as
7:58 I said sort of we've got kind of all
8:01 those various layers of of roles within
8:03 the organization um and some are sort of
8:05 more clinical facing some are more kind
8:10 of strategic um roles what is so we you
8:11 know I guess one of the things that
8:14 we've been really clear on is that we
8:16 don't recruit into roles unless there is
8:18 the proper infrastructure around it so
8:21 as you can imagine we often get um
8:23 services that are really keen on ENT
8:26 level peer support worker roles um but
8:28 they may not have a senior peer worker
8:30 in place or ADV an expence practitioner
8:32 that oversees their service area so we
8:35 have had to hold the line often around
8:36 that and really ensure that actually if
8:38 we are going ahead with the recruitment
8:39 we do have the proper infrastructure in
8:42 place for that um all of our recruitment
8:45 is done sort of jointly with with the
8:47 service area so whilst our peer workers
8:49 and Senior peer workers and some of our
8:52 Advanced practitioners are line managed
8:53 locally by the service that they are
8:56 they're employing them we have an
8:59 additional kind of input into the
9:01 recruit the supervision of these roles
9:03 so all the recruitment is done jointly
9:06 um we hold our job dist description
9:09 centrally um so and we have really good
9:10 um working relationships with our
9:12 recruitment teams so if there are any
9:15 roles that are being recruited into that
9:16 have peed experience in the title that
9:19 we're not aware of we will be notified
9:20 because that is something that used to
9:23 happen a bit early earlier on before our
9:25 infrastructures were in place was that
9:27 roles were being recruited into and we
9:28 weren't aware of them and then all of a
9:30 sudden we had peer worker and they don't
9:32 have supervision structures in place and
9:35 and all of that so so we undertake
9:37 recruitment jointly we you know do joint
9:39 short listing interviews we you know at
9:41 interview we ask of people to share bit
9:42 about their recovery journey and that's
9:44 really important for us to be able to to
9:46 kind of get a sense of of where people
9:48 are at and whether they are you know
9:49 willing to kind of bring their lived
9:52 experience in that professional way to work
9:53 work
9:56 um what happens actually even before
9:58 recruitment that we really I think you
10:00 know we have to actually refocus on and
10:02 this is something that I've recently
10:04 been um kind of reflecting on actually
10:06 we've maybe let slip a little bit and
10:08 it's so so important is we have Team
10:10 what we call team preparation sessions
10:13 with a service beforehand um and that's
10:15 really to you know get the team to
10:17 really understand what the role is about
10:19 what their expectations might be but
10:21 also a bit for us to sound check whether
10:23 actually a service is in a position to
10:24 be ready to actually embrace lived
10:27 experience and embed it properly because
10:29 otherwise we we're setting up people to
10:31 fail really so a team prep happens even
10:34 before recruitment happens um we're
10:36 quite keen on ensuring that most you
10:38 know as much as possible our roles are
10:39 permanent roles we do sometimes have
10:42 fixed-term roles that's inevitable with
10:43 with some of our service areas that are
10:45 commissioned sort of you know for for
10:48 chunks of time but um we do try and make
10:50 sure that we have permanent roles where
10:52 possible because we find that we can do
10:54 recruitment a lot better because we can
10:56 take our time and make sure that we're
10:58 getting the right person but so the job
11:00 just you know give people job security
11:03 is really important so um and then once
11:04 someone is in post we've got sort of a
11:07 Triad of supervision so um people are
11:10 line managed locally by line managers if
11:11 they do have you know if they work
11:13 clinically they they will also have a
11:14 clinical supervisor sometimes that's the
11:17 same person that line manages them and
11:19 then there is a peer professional lived
11:21 experience supervisor um sort of
11:23 depending on where their their role is
11:26 and they do that kind of that level of
11:28 of supervision sort of really looking at
11:30 what it means to bring your to work in
11:31 that way and really kind of the
11:33 complexities about around this role and
11:35 we also have mandated reflective
11:37 practice for all of our peer workers
11:39 across the organization that happens
11:40 every two months and that's sort of with
11:42 other peers across the organization and
11:45 it's led by our leadership team um and
11:47 again it's sort of an opportunity to
11:49 reflect on the work but in a group
11:52 setting um and we've got quite a bit of
11:55 training um that we offer so all of our
11:57 entry level roles will start with in all
11:59 of our staff have a probation period but
12:02 within the probation period for uh our
12:04 peer roles we've got a peer worker
12:06 foundation training and that sort of
12:08 they will go through that with their
12:09 supervisor in the first eight weeks of
12:12 their um role and then once people have
12:14 been in post through a little while we
12:17 um they start are developing expertise
12:18 and peer support course which is our
12:21 level four accredited training um
12:24 alongside that we have sort of a regular
12:25 CPD we've got Li experience training
12:28 sessions that are run by our Workforce
12:30 um we've got PC Vision training so any
12:31 of our peers that do provide
12:33 professional supervision have training
12:35 around that and we're working at the
12:37 moment on an an additional layer of
12:40 training for a more senior leadership
12:44 roles I think it's just really um stands
12:46 out how robust that kind of
12:48 infrastructure is and I think you know
12:50 pure support isn't pure support without
12:52 lived experience and actually you've
12:55 really honed in on how that's supported
12:57 um within the work force and supporting
12:59 people to bring that into the space and
13:01 actually and I think something that is
13:05 so uh crucial is that pre-team prep work
13:07 that you've spoken about you know when
13:08 there is sort of multi-disciplinary
13:12 teams um involved um I think we are
13:15 coming to the end is of our 15 minutes
13:18 Fran but I would like to sort of finish
13:20 up on just a bit of looking to the
13:23 Future and I know you have launched a
13:27 new Workforce strategy very exciting um
13:29 and yeah just you know what's your
13:31 Ambitions for the future of the lived
13:33 experience Workforce in your trust yeah
13:35 absolutely so yeah we we just a couple
13:37 of weeks ago launched the first ever
13:38 strategy that we've had for our
13:40 Workforce and it sort of spans the next
13:43 five and a half years so until 2030 um
13:45 it's essentially divided into four kind
13:48 of separate areas so I'll just really
13:50 briefly touch on them but um so one is
13:52 around literacy and value so really
13:55 ensuring that our that that the rder
13:57 workforce at cnwl really understand what
13:59 peer working is and they value the offer
14:02 that we make as as a Workforce and part
14:03 of that will look at sort of expanding
14:05 our training offer for for our staff but
14:06 also not just internally actually
14:10 externally too um and also maybe you the
14:11 hope is also to create a bit of a
14:13 research Hub so that then we can
14:15 disseminate the research that we you
14:17 know that we might kind of be able to
14:19 put together around the effectiveness of
14:21 these roles and ensuring the
14:24 organization understands it um the other
14:26 bit is around kind of access so ensuring
14:29 that actually anyone that comes into
14:31 contct with cnwr Services can have
14:32 contact with a peer worker should they
14:34 need to so that really that's about
14:36 expanding our Workforce and ensuring
14:37 we've got the like appropriate
14:40 infrastructure to do that um then we are
14:41 looking at service cultures so really
14:43 supporting and inputting into our
14:45 clinical and Corporate Services
14:47 supporting the recovery focused practice
14:48 um in the way that the organization
14:50 works with people accessing Services as
14:52 well as those that work in our services
14:54 as well so we really find that there's
14:55 there's something that we can offer for
14:57 for a wider staff Workforce because we
15:00 know that a lot of professionals within
15:01 the workforce that aren't part of the
15:03 the peer and lived experience Workforce
15:05 might have lived experience as well so
15:07 how do we support them um through our
15:09 work and the other is around our career
15:12 Pathways um and Justice Equity diversity
15:14 and inclusion so ensuring like robust
15:16 career Pathways and really supporting
15:17 our communities to enter the
15:19 organization so that we're reflective of
15:22 the communities we serve um so that's
15:24 really kind of in a nutshell what we're
15:26 hoping to do over the next 30 yeah over
15:28 the next five years the next few well
15:30 yeah thank you so much and I think that
15:32 gives us a really good sense of the
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