About this role
Job summary
Can your lived experience help shape the future of Mental Health services across Lincolnshire?
Lincolnshire County Council is launching an exciting new Expert by Experience - Mental Health role, offering a unique opportunity to influence how Adult Social Care Mental Health services are designed, delivered and improved.
This is more than a traditional advisory role. We are looking for someone who can use their personal lived experience, insight and passion to ensure the voices of people who access services, unpaid carers and local communities directly influence decision-making at every level.
As our Expert by Experience, you will work alongside senior leaders, practitioners, commissioners and partners, acting as a critical friend and champion for co-production, inclusion and meaningful engagement. Through constructive challenge, relationship building and the sharing of lived experience insight, you will help shape service improvement, influence strategic direction and ensure people remain at the centre of everything we do.
If you are passionate about improving outcomes for others and want to play a key role in shaping the future of Mental Health services, this is a unique opportunity to make a lasting difference.
Main duties of the job
About the role
This brand-new position offers the opportunity to make a real and lasting impact on Mental Health services across Lincolnshire.
Working across both strategic and operational activity, you will champion the voice of lived experience and help ensure that services are shaped by the people who use them.
You will:
Champion the voice of people with lived experience across Working Age Adults Mental Health services (Social Care). Design and support engagement and co-production activities that shape future services. Work alongside senior leaders to influence strategy, commissioning and transformation programmes. Build effective relationships with people who access services, unpaid carers, voluntary sector organisations and community groups and partner agencies. Gather and analyse feedback and insight to inform service improvement. Facilitate workshops, focus groups and engagement events. Promote person-centred, strengths-based and recovery-focused approaches throughout the organisationNo two days will be the same. One day you could be facilitating a co-production workshop with people who access services, and the next presenting lived experience insight to senior leaders to influence strategic decisions.
Additional information:
Core office hours: 08:4517:15 (MondayThursday), 08:4516:45 (Friday) Hybrid working: a combination of home and office-based working, with office attendance as required Travel is essential; mileage is reimbursed for journeys from the office to appointments
About us
Lincolnshire County Council, is one of the largest employers in the county. We are an organisation that embraces diversity, innovation and progress. We value our people and want to ensure that we can support you in joining and growing with us.
We will view you as an integral member of our community and recognise that your well-being is paramount. To show our appreciation, weve crafted a competitive package designed to not only acknowledge your hard work but also foster a healthy work-life balance.
From health benefits and retirement plans, we strive to provide a package that supports well-being and financial stability and that meets the diverse needs of our workforce.
We want everyone who works with us to feel included and celebrate their uniqueness. We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and promoting good relations for both employee and for the people of Lincolnshire.
People often say every day is a learning day and at LCC a culture of learning is something we really believe in. We recognise the importance of supporting your learning and development and can offer a variety of different learning opportunities depending on what is right for you and the organisation. This could be through your everyday tasks, through hands-on experience, structured programs, formal qualifications, coaching, or informal learning opportunities.
Job description Job responsibilities
As an Expert by Experience this role has both a strategic and operational remit for ensuring that the voices, experiences and perspectives of people who draw on adult social care services, unpaid carers, and local communities are embedded in the design, delivery, commissioning, evaluation and governance of Adult Social Care services. The postholder will provide direction in engagement approaches, championing a strengths-based and person-centred ethos. They will act as a critical friend, adviser and advocate, ensuring that lived experience directly influences decision-making, service improvement and transformation programmes, through a Mental Health lens. Operating from a position of positive, evidence-based challenge, to inform Lincolnshire County Councils approach to delivering responsive, inclusive and person-centered mental health services, where outcomes and quality of life are central.
The Expert by Experience will develop and support meaningful engagement opportunities, build engagement capability across the workforce. The postholder is expected to operate from a perspective ensuring platforms and opportunities are created, enabling people who access services, to directly share their experiences, knowledge and views, to in turn shape continuous improvement across and ongoing development of Adult Social Care Mental Health services.
1.
Operate collaboratively with the Mental Health Team and Strategic Commissioning Co-production team to drive, shape and design engagement and co-production activities to improve services.
2.
Lead forming positive relationships and reducing barriers to collaborate with people who access services, unpaid carers, voluntary sector and community groups, and partner organisations.
3.
Operate as the principal adviser to senior leaders on matters relating to lived experience and community involvement. Provide challenge and constructive feedback to leaders based on lived experience insight.
Head of WAA Mental Health
Mental Health Operations Manager
Expert by Experience Mental Health
4.
Act as an ambassador for the voice of lived experience at internal and external events, forums, and partnership meetings.
5.
Gather views across communities through a range of communication methods, which can in turn be utilised to inform future service design and development.
6.
Promote understanding of wider mental health factors such as stigma, discrimination, exclusion, and inequalities.
7.
Provide constructive feedback based on lived experience to promote person-centred, strengths-based and recovery-focused approaches.
8.
Through analysis of qualitative and quantitative intelligence, produce information to support reports and recommendations for senior leaders, elected members and partnership boards.
9.
Ensure lived experience is embedded within strategic planning, commissioning, transformation programmes and policy development.
10.
Support the organisation in meeting its statutory duties relating to wellbeing, inclusion, equality and engagement.
11.
Ensure people with lived experience are involved at all stages of service design, delivery and evaluation.
12.
Develop mechanisms to engage diverse and seldom-heard groups. Ensure participation activities are accessible, inclusive and culturally appropriate.
13.
Facilitate workshops, focus groups, consultations and engagement activities.
14.
Establish and support lived experience panels, reference groups and advisory forums.
15.
Contribute to service reviews, inspections, quality assurance activities and improvement plans.
16.
Represent the authority at regional and national networks relating to lived experience and citizen engagement.
17.
Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, safeguarding responsibilities, data protection requirements and equality duties.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
GCSE Grade C or Level 5 or equivalent in English. Understanding of issues affecting people with mental health needs, including stigma and daily-life impact.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name Lincolnshire County Council
Address Lincolnshire County Council
County Offices
Newland
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
LN1 1YL
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://jobs.lincolnshire.gov.uk/home.html (Opens in a new tab)