Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Complex Emotional Needs Pathway Lived Experience Lead

The closing date is 17 February 2026

Job summary

The Lived Experience Lead for the Complex Emotional Needs (CEN) Pathway will work across all of our community mental health service sites in collaboration with the Complex Emotional Needs (CEN) Pathway Operational Lead to ensure the systematic provision, strategic planning and design and support for the delivery of high quality services for people receiving support with Complex Emotional Needs across CNWL. The role of the CEN Pathway Lived Experience Lead will be to support the lived experience practitioner workforce within the context of professional supervision and broader staff groups via training, consultation and other activities associated with the design of the services and pathways as appropriate.

In addition, the postholder will have a leading role in the operationalising of the Peer & Lived Experience Workforce strategy, contribute as a stakeholder to both Recovery & Wellbeing College delivery, support occasional workforce-wide training for and on behalf of the peer & lived experience workforce (as appropriate), and sit within the Lived Experience Leadership Team.

Main duties of the job

Work autonomously within professional guidelines for lived experience workers and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of lived experience practice within the complex emotional needs pathways within each borough in CNWL.

Take responsibility for ensuring that systems are in place in the Complex Emotional Needs pathway for the provision of appropriate interventions for complex emotional needs across the trust.

Take overall responsibility alongside the Complex Emotional Needs Trustwide team for implementing clear systems for effective training, supervision for both group and individual work undertaken by lived experience practitioners within the Complex Emotional Needs pathway.

Ensure that governance structures for the Complex Emotional Needs pathway are operational in accordance with the trust's clinical governance structures in accordance with local and Trust policy.

Ensure the application of clinical governance arrangements in accordance with the Trust's clinical governance structures, including systems for monitoring performance, contract activity, service quality, and user and carer satisfaction.

To take responsibility for the recruitment of appropriate professional staff within the pathway.

To initiate and implement service developments and projects within the service.

About us

CNWL provides NHS services throughout a person's life, in physical and mental health and everything in between, from GPs and hospitals to the community and in their own home.

Where community care is not possible, we offer several facilities to treat people in hospital or residential environments. We also provide healthcare in prisons in London and the surrounding areas.

Partnerships are central to what we do here-- with patients and their families, with staff, and with other organisations, especially commissioners and providers, but also with local authorities, GPs, universities, and the voluntary sector. We envisage more in the years to come.

We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference.

Details

Date posted

04 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£61,631 to £68,623 a year pa inc HCAS pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

333-C-HQ-2045

Job locations

Argo House

Kilburn Park Road

Kilburn

NW6 5FA


Job description

Job responsibilities

1.0 Key responsibilities

1.1 To coordinate the provision of appropriate interventions for people described as having complex emotional needs, ensuring a high quality, responsive and accessible services for clients, their carers and families, including participation in senior management meetings and advising on all aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

1.2 To support Borough Directors and Clinical Directors in setting the strategic direction of the service within their area, taking account of local and national priorities, and to ensure corporate objectives are addressed within local service business plans.

1.3 To support service managers and clinical leads in ensuring there are robust and effective professional supervision arrangements within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway for all lived experience staff, in accordance with local and Trust policy.

1.4 Ensure the application of clinical governance arrangements in accordance with the Trusts clinical governance structures, including systems for monitoring performance, contract activity, service quality, and user and carer satisfaction.

1.5 To take responsibility for the recruitment of appropriate professional staff within the service.

1.6 To initiate and implement service developments and projects within the service.

2. Service Delivery responsibilities

2.1 To actively support the Pathway to formulate plans for the treatment and/or management of their clients mental health challenges based on appropriate concepts and evidence. This should include work across the full range of care settings, including community and inpatient contexts.

2.2. Actively support the Pathway in implementing psychological interventions for individuals, their families or carers.

2.3 To actively support Pathway staff under their supervision to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options, always endeavouring to involve the individual client and the group as much as possible in these decisions.

2.4 To provide lived experience expertise and specialist advice, guidance and consultation to multidisciplinary teams and other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation and treatment planning.

2.5 To ensure that all members of the clinical teams have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients supported within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of knowledge, research and theory.

2.6 To develop and advise on accessible sources of information for our local communities and seek to work in authentic coproduction with them around the ongoing improvement journey.

3.0 Administrative responsibilities

3.1 To ensure effective communications with local communities and external stakeholders regarding pathway developments and the ongoing improvements that may emerge across the Complex Emotional Needs pathway.

3.2 To compile and present high standard board reports for the Community Transformation Board as required.

3.3 To work effectively with the Advanced Lived Experience Complex Emotional Needs Training & Development Lead to ensure a robust training offering is cascaded throughout the trust and that the training offer related to Complex Emotional Needs provides a variety of training products for varied audiences.

4.0 Training, Teaching, Research and Supervision

4.1 To assist in the development of teaching methods for lived experience staff and broader staff groups, both related to the complex emotional needs agenda as well as adjacent areas, such as trauma informed care and coproduction, and to a variety of care contexts that may meet the client group with complex emotional needs, including external agencies where necessary.

4.2 To provide high-level, expert clinical and professional core and specialist supervision of lived experience practitioner colleagues within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway and to other teams in the Trust (where agreed locally).

4.3 To continue to develop expertise in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and supervision.

4.4 To take a lead role as a senior postholder in planning and implementing systems for the evaluation, monitoring and development of the pathway, through the deployment of skills in research, service evaluation and audit, and ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high quality care.

4.5 To participate and take a co-ordinating role in the on-going research of the Pathway and in audit projects where necessary, and to collate data as necessary.

4.6 To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual and group work with other team members.

4.7 To carry out duties in relation to local, regional and national initiatives in developing services in the specialist area as opportunities arise.

Job description

Job responsibilities

1.0 Key responsibilities

1.1 To coordinate the provision of appropriate interventions for people described as having complex emotional needs, ensuring a high quality, responsive and accessible services for clients, their carers and families, including participation in senior management meetings and advising on all aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

1.2 To support Borough Directors and Clinical Directors in setting the strategic direction of the service within their area, taking account of local and national priorities, and to ensure corporate objectives are addressed within local service business plans.

1.3 To support service managers and clinical leads in ensuring there are robust and effective professional supervision arrangements within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway for all lived experience staff, in accordance with local and Trust policy.

1.4 Ensure the application of clinical governance arrangements in accordance with the Trusts clinical governance structures, including systems for monitoring performance, contract activity, service quality, and user and carer satisfaction.

1.5 To take responsibility for the recruitment of appropriate professional staff within the service.

1.6 To initiate and implement service developments and projects within the service.

2. Service Delivery responsibilities

2.1 To actively support the Pathway to formulate plans for the treatment and/or management of their clients mental health challenges based on appropriate concepts and evidence. This should include work across the full range of care settings, including community and inpatient contexts.

2.2. Actively support the Pathway in implementing psychological interventions for individuals, their families or carers.

2.3 To actively support Pathway staff under their supervision to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options, always endeavouring to involve the individual client and the group as much as possible in these decisions.

2.4 To provide lived experience expertise and specialist advice, guidance and consultation to multidisciplinary teams and other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation and treatment planning.

2.5 To ensure that all members of the clinical teams have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients supported within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of knowledge, research and theory.

2.6 To develop and advise on accessible sources of information for our local communities and seek to work in authentic coproduction with them around the ongoing improvement journey.

3.0 Administrative responsibilities

3.1 To ensure effective communications with local communities and external stakeholders regarding pathway developments and the ongoing improvements that may emerge across the Complex Emotional Needs pathway.

3.2 To compile and present high standard board reports for the Community Transformation Board as required.

3.3 To work effectively with the Advanced Lived Experience Complex Emotional Needs Training & Development Lead to ensure a robust training offering is cascaded throughout the trust and that the training offer related to Complex Emotional Needs provides a variety of training products for varied audiences.

4.0 Training, Teaching, Research and Supervision

4.1 To assist in the development of teaching methods for lived experience staff and broader staff groups, both related to the complex emotional needs agenda as well as adjacent areas, such as trauma informed care and coproduction, and to a variety of care contexts that may meet the client group with complex emotional needs, including external agencies where necessary.

4.2 To provide high-level, expert clinical and professional core and specialist supervision of lived experience practitioner colleagues within the Complex Emotional Needs Pathway and to other teams in the Trust (where agreed locally).

4.3 To continue to develop expertise in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and supervision.

4.4 To take a lead role as a senior postholder in planning and implementing systems for the evaluation, monitoring and development of the pathway, through the deployment of skills in research, service evaluation and audit, and ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high quality care.

4.5 To participate and take a co-ordinating role in the on-going research of the Pathway and in audit projects where necessary, and to collate data as necessary.

4.6 To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual and group work with other team members.

4.7 To carry out duties in relation to local, regional and national initiatives in developing services in the specialist area as opportunities arise.

Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

  • Completion of training in peer support
  • Doctoral degree or equivalent
  • Evidence of CPD
  • KUF Train the Trainer

Desirable

  • Supervision or mentorship trainining

Previous Experience

Essential

  • Lived experience understood as CEN
  • Significant experience as a CEN peer/LX worker
  • Experience of delivering supervision/mentoring/appraisal
  • Experience of partnership working
  • Experience of facilitating groups
  • Experience of public speaking

Desirable

  • Involvement in service redesign and development
  • Teaching Experience

Skills, knowledge and abilities

Essential

  • Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery at an expert level
  • Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
  • Thorough knowledge of social inclusion and the principles of recovery
  • Awareness of the service user/survivor movement and the history of intentional peer support
  • A high level of ability to communicate effectively at a written level
Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

  • Completion of training in peer support
  • Doctoral degree or equivalent
  • Evidence of CPD
  • KUF Train the Trainer

Desirable

  • Supervision or mentorship trainining

Previous Experience

Essential

  • Lived experience understood as CEN
  • Significant experience as a CEN peer/LX worker
  • Experience of delivering supervision/mentoring/appraisal
  • Experience of partnership working
  • Experience of facilitating groups
  • Experience of public speaking

Desirable

  • Involvement in service redesign and development
  • Teaching Experience

Skills, knowledge and abilities

Essential

  • Ability to demonstrate first person experiential knowledge of recovery at an expert level
  • Ability to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of personal recovery as it may apply to others
  • Thorough knowledge of social inclusion and the principles of recovery
  • Awareness of the service user/survivor movement and the history of intentional peer support
  • A high level of ability to communicate effectively at a written level

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Argo House

Kilburn Park Road

Kilburn

NW6 5FA


Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Argo House

Kilburn Park Road

Kilburn

NW6 5FA


Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Head of Lived Experience Workforce

Kayleigh Reid

kayleigh.reid2@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

04 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£61,631 to £68,623 a year pa inc HCAS pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

333-C-HQ-2045

Job locations

Argo House

Kilburn Park Road

Kilburn

NW6 5FA


Supporting documents

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