Peer support volunteer lived of addiction

What difference will you make?

Your role will help people struggling with drugs and alcohol, and who are stuck in the system or falling through the cracks, to get much‑needed support, guidance and counselling.

Qualifications And Experience

Lived experience of addiction and experience offering peer support or working with addicts / substance abusers in some capacity. The ideal volunteers will have at least three years’ experience advising or mentoring clients, or advocating on their behalf, and a good working knowledge of the social care sector.

• Advice‑giving and guidance skills
• Confident having conversations with people they don’t know
• Coaching or mentoring
• Be able to listen and reflect
• Empathy
• Be open about their own recovery story.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Flexible
• Ability to work unsupervised
• Confidence working with people from diverse backgrounds

Rehabit are looking for volunteers with lived experience of addiction / substance abuse to join our team helping those struggling with drugs and alcohol.

Our definition of peer support is someone with lived experience of addiction, who practices a recovery programme, and who knows how to work with those who are ready for recovery or in early recovery.

Specifically, there are two types of role. The first involves talking with and meeting new clients who are ready for recovery and waiting for counselling with us. They will join other peer supporters in being the first point of contact for client referrals. The second involves joining community drop‑in sessions at our partners’ locations. These could be community centres, food banks, residential centres, hostels and so on.

We are currently developing this programme and would like to build a network of peer support volunteers to cover the sessions, primarily in Islington to begin with.

Peer supporters can focus on one of the above roles or a combination of both. The aim is to identify and support clients into our in‑house counselling service. The intention isn’t to build long‑term relationships with clients but to identify and support those who are ready (and don’t need detox) into our counselling service. We also guide clients to 12‑step fellowships if they are willing, but this isn’t a condition of us helping.

We deal with a low volume of clients, generally those who are stuck in the system or falling through the cracks. This means there can be ebbs and flows in client numbers.

Peer supporters will need a DBS check, unless they hold one on the Update Service, and, as well as mandatory training, there will be an in‑house peer support coaching and charity orientation sessions.

Our main area is Islington but we also cover Haringey, Camden, Barnet and Enfield.