Reports To: Operations Manager
Direct Reports: Up to 8
Location: Southampton
Hours: 30 hours/week
Salary Range: £23,967 to £27,120 (£29,560 to £33,448 full time equivalent) per annum - Solent Mind band D
Purpose:
The Peer Support Team Leader will lead day-to-day delivery of the Southampton CMHT Peer Support Service, supporting adults experiencing mental distress across the city. The role ensures safe, effective, person-centred peer support aligned to the service specification, enabling effective interventions, and supporting seamless pathways between NHS services and community provision.
The postholder will use their own lived experience of mental health challenges and recovery to model hope, empowerment and wellbeing. They will provide leadership, supervision, operational oversight, and quality assurance for a mixed workforce of Peer Workers, volunteers, and student placements.
Principal Accountabilities:
Provide effective support, development, supervision and appraisal of team members volunteers and students, ensuring safe and effective practice. ensuring that their work meets Solent Mind’s quality standards.
Promote a collaborative team culture grounded in lived experience values, trauma informed practice, and recovery principles.
Hold a limited caseload of service users, working with people who engage with the service, where appropriate.
Ensure all team members adhere to safeguarding, information governance, confidentiality, boundaries, and risk management requirements.
Assist Operations Manager in the engagement of service users and community voices on the design and operation of our service, seeking regular feedback.
Collect, analyse and report service data, ensuring timely monthly KPI submissions, caseload data, outcome measures and anonymised case studies.
Work with the Operations Manager to ensure the building is welcoming to all, whilst also meeting our health and safety obligations.
Share and implement learning with colleagues across Solent Mind.
Maintain operational systems including case recording on the appropriate platform.
Ensure safe delivery of support across a range of venues across the city including community spaces.
Act as a key liaison with HIOW NHS teams, especially Primary and Secondary care practitioners, Social Prescribers, Talking Therapies and MDT partners.
Attend MDT meetings, ensuring timely feedback, risk information and updates.
Build strong relationships with VCSE organisations, community groups, and partners across Southampton.
Represent the service at steering groups, contract review meetings, and operational integration meetings with the Trust.
Ensure staff training compliance.
Contribute to evaluation processes, audits, risk logs, and continuous service improvement.
Support safe lone working systems, safeguarding oversight, incident reporting and escalation processes.
Play a core role in mobilisation and ongoing development of the service, including SOPs, pathways, dashboards, reporting frameworks and community outreach.
Support student placement coordination, training, induction and supervision.
Promote coproduction with people with lived experience; gather feedback to shape service improvements.
General:
Adhere to the aims, values, policies and procedures of Solent Mind, particularly safeguarding and health & safety.
This list is non exhaustive and other duties may be required to meet the needs of Solent Mind
Band D – Team Leader / Senior Specialist
| Requirement | Essential or Desirable | |
| Qualifications/Education/Training: (Minimum standard of education and professional qualifications (RQF level) required to achieve the purpose of the job to a fully satisfactory level) · Minimum of level 3 qualification or equivalent, or capability and wilingness to work | Essential | |
| towards. Training in peer support, peer supervision mental | Essential | |
| health, coaching or similar. Safeguarding training (can be provided). Peer Supervisor training, or wilingness to work | Essential | |
| towards. | Desirable | |
| Experience: (What type and depth of experience is required to perform the duties to a fully satisfactory level) Supervising staff, volunteers or students. ● | Essential | |
| Providing support to people experiencing mental distress, trauma, or complex life challenges. Working in community mental health, VCSE or NHS settings. | Essential Desirable | |
| Using CRM or case management recording systems. Partnership working with NHS, VCSE or PCNs. | Essential Desirable Essential | |
| Recognising risks and management of them, safeguarding concerns, or incidents processes and procedures. | Essential | |
| Knowledge/Skills/Competencies: Strong understanding of mental health, recovery, peer support principles ● | Essential Essential Essential | |
| and trauma informed practice. Knowledge of safeguarding and risk assessment procedures. | ||
| Excellent communication skils (verbal, written, digital). | ||
| Ability to analyse data, monitor caseloads and meet KPls. | ||
| • Ability to work flexibly across venues and manage competing demands. | ||
| Ability to self-reflect and implement new learning where a change is required · Strong IT competency including MS Office and CRM systems. | Essential Essential | |
| Essential | ||
| Lived Experience Requirement: | ||
| • Personal lived experience of mental health challenges and meaningful recovery. | Essential | |
| • Ability to use lived experience safely, ethically and professionally in supporting | Essential | |
| others. Ability to recognise and implement own wellbeing tools and support to maintain a good level of wellbeing and resilience | Essential | |
| Requirement | EssentialorDesirable | |
| Other: | EssentialEssentialEssentialEssential | |
| Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. | ||
| Ability to travel across Southampton and surrounding areas. | ||
| Willingness to undertake DBS check. | ||
| • Commitment to Solent Mind values and collborative NHS partnership working. | ||
Date job originated:
Date job reviewed: March 2026
Reviewing Manager: Wendy Lee