Getting involved

There are lots of different ways to get involved with Sussex Recovery College:

• Enrol as a student and attend our courses and workshops
• Suggest courses and workshops you'd like us to offer
• Give your feedback via our end of course survey
• Apply to become a peer trainer or digital host next time we advertise
• Co-produce / co-deliver courses as a mental health professional/subject matter expert

Lived Experience Roles
At Sussex Partnership we have three distinct lived experience roles.
Here is a summary of these roles and the value they bring to the organisation.

Expert by Experience (EbE)
An EbE represents the service user or carer perspective and contributes to improvement projects and activities, such as recruitment or steering groups. This role is for people using services now or in recent years and is paid by an hourly rate.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peer Support Worker
With lived experience of mental health issues, or other relevant issues such as neurodivergence or criminal justice, peer support workers offer direct support to people who use our services. They are part of our clinical teams with a distinct role to build relationships using common experience, developing skills, strengths and new perspectives.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peer Trainer
Peer Trainers use their lived experience to develop and deliver co-produced training around relevant subjects. Peer Trainers are paid roles through the Trust bank as work is sessional and varied. We have Peer Trainers in Recovery Colleges.
If you are interested in learning more about this role, please contact:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Other roles
There are other roles where lived experience is essential, including Senior Peer Trainer, Senior Peer Support Coordinator, Peer Trainer Lead, Peer Support Lead and Engagement and Support Officer. In other roles lived experience is an asset, but not necessarily essential, including Participation Lead or Manager, and Patient and Carer Experience Lead.
If you are interested in learning more about these roles, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lived Experience Roles

Sussex Recovery College is part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT).    Championing the voice of people with lived experience to help shape the design, development, delivery and evaluation of SPFT services is really important.

We'd love you to get involved and there's a few different ways to do this:

Peer Trainer - Recovery College Become a Peer Trainer

Peer Trainers co-produce and co-deliver recovery education courses and workshops alongside clinicians and subject matter experts.  They positively draw on their lived experience knowledge and expertise to teach students about mental health and personal recovery.  They act as role models to inspire and inform others.  As well as their lived experience, many Peer Trainers have a teaching qualification like the Level 3 Education and Training award.  These are paid sessional roles on the SPFT bank (Band 4).

Become a Digital Host - Recovery College

Digital Hosts provide technical support to students; they support them to join online courses, optimise their devices for learning and problem solve any technical issues that come up in the session.  They support the delivery team to create a dynamic learning environment; they manage the online platform (zoom), run PowerPoints, play videos, capture students’ feedback on slides as well as use digital tools like polls. These are paid sessional roles on the SPFT bank (Band 3).

If you are interested in learning more about these roles, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Working together groups - SPFT

These are open forums where people with experience of using SPFT services meet to share views and ideas to resolve issues and work with staff to make service improvements.

Expert by Experience (EBE) Programme - SPFT

These are workshops for people to gain skills to get involved in a range of participation activities. If you're interested in actively getting involved to help improve mental health services, this could be the workshop for you.

Sessions are open to people using SPFT services, past and present, as well as their family, friends and carers. The course explores how to communicate your personal experiences in a way that can create meaningful change to services and support you on your recovery journey.

You can find out more here: Experts by Experience :: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Volunteer - SPFT

Our Volunteer Service recruits, trains and provides ongoing support to volunteers in a wide range of projects. We welcome volunteers from all areas of our diverse community, who feel they have something to offer to help us enhance the service we provide.

You can find out more here: Volunteer :: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Peer Support - SPFT Become a Peer Support Worker

One of the ways people with lived experience can get involved at Sussex Partnership is to become a peer support worker.

A peer support worker is someone with lived experience of mental health issues, or other relevant issues, who is employed to offer support to people who use our services.

The main focus of a peer support worker is to build relationships using common experience, shared learning, developing skills, strengths and new perspectives.

You can find out more here: Peer support :: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Other roles
There are other roles where lived experience is essential, including Senior Peer Trainer and Peer Trainer Lead (Recovery College); Senior Peer Support Co-ordinator, Peer Support Lead, Engagement and Support Officer (SPFT). In other roles lived experience is an asset, but not necessarily essential, including Participation Lead, Participation Manager, Patient and Carer Experience Lead.

If you are interested in learning more about these roles, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Are you interested in finding out more about co-production and lived experience to enhance your practice?   Do you want to develop your group work or facilitation skills?  Or maybe you have a particular passion or area of expertise you would like to share?

If so Sussex Recovery College would love to hear from you!

We're always on the look out for clinicians to help co-deliver our courses and co-create new ones.  There are opportunities for practitioners at any stage of their career to get involved - we tailor opportunities to match your learning needs and experience.  All professions are welcome.

We offer a range of courses around Understanding & Managing Health Conditions as well as Creativity, Wellbeing and Personal Development.

We'd love to hear from you and discuss the varied opportunities for clinical and professional development. 

If you'd like us to present to your team meeting so you can find out more, please let us know. 

Please contact our Clinical Specialist Georgina Sheppard for more information This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.