Roles for service users and carers
We are committed to working and engaging with service users, patients, family, friends, carers and the public in a wide range of ways.
Ensuring that people’s views are heard at all levels and across all parts of the Trust is essential for creating and delivering better health and care services.
Service users and people who look after someone can get involved in the following ways:
- Providing your views as a representative at a service improvement meeting or working group.
- Getting involved in the recruitment and selection process of staff.
- Helping inspect our buildings for the purposes of audit or PLACE Inspection (Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment).
- Co-deliver our training (as part of the Trust induction or as a Course Tutor for our Recovery Academy)
- Speaking at an event
- Contributing to the development of policies or reviewing information
- And many more.
You will be paid for your time. The rate of pay is £11.44 per hour. Payment for mileage will be reimbursed at the same rate as our staff who use their own vehicle for business mileage (currently 56p per mile).
When a vacancy is advertised, we are looking for applications from lots of people who have used GMMH’s services, particularly in the last six months, as well as their carers and families.
There may also be occasions when someone with experience of our services over six months ago, either directly themselves, or indirectly as a family member/carer, can apply for a role.
Current opportunities are listed on this page, below, and/or advertised by flyers and on noticeboards in the services where roles are available.
Trauma Informed Care Working Groups – Expressions of Interest Invited
GMMH are committed to continuing to develop as a Trauma Informed Organisation. It is vital that our
service users and carers are at the heart of developing the strategy to inform our Trust roadmap.
GMMH will acknowledge the significant role that trauma and adverse life events can have upon the
wellbeing of people who use services, their families / carers, and our staff. We will recognise the signs
of trauma responses, and respond to these, using evidence-based practice, both clinically and
organisationally.
We will resist practices, processes and policies which might result in people who use
services, their families / carers or staff being re-traumatised. We believe that being a
trauma -informed organisation is fundamental to ensuring we act in accordance with
our Trusts values.
GMMH Co-Produced Commitment to being a Trauma Informed Organisation.
In March 2024, the Trust appointed a Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Lead. It is vital that TIC is
threaded throughout our organisation and included in key service re-design and Quality
Improvement projects. Therefore, we are seeking to review five key areas of our TIC Strategy,
to develop our organisational roadmap, with the establishment of five working groups.
The working groups will each have representation from 2 Service Users / Carers. Additionally,
there is a strategy and planning group, collating all information, to make recommendation to
the TIC stakeholder group.
Each group will meet four times, for 1 hour, over an 8–10-week period, commencing before
the end of March 2025. Each meeting will have an allocated reading/ planning hour attached,
all remunerated at the Trusts standard rate. To express an interest please send your name,
contact details and preference for which group to: AmandaKathryn.Smith@gmmh.nhs.uk by
the 24 February 2025. All meetings will be held via Microsoft Teams.
There are 5 Strategic Pillars which will form the five working groups to create a TIC
roadmap.
Training and Development
Develop a Trust wide training programme to understand the key principles of trauma
informed practice. Enable recognition of the prevalence, signs and impacts of trauma,
seeing every interaction with patients, service users, carers, and staff through a trauma lens.
Identification of training relevant to role, including base line mandatory training for all staff,
supervision, reverse peer mentoring (Together Strategy), delivery requirements, and solutions.
Supporting the wider TR-GM initiative, placing GMMH as a leading provider of Trauma
Informed Mental Health Services
Staff Health and Wellbeing
At GMMH, our staff and volunteers are our most valuable asset. A TI approach emphasises
the delivery of physical, psychological, and emotional safety. We aim to provide our staff with
the highest level of physical and mental wellbeing support. We recognise that working
within healthcare can lead to traumatisation. Ensuing TIA are embedded within supervision,
reflective practice, workloads, and appraisal reviews, reducing burnout and vicarious
trauma, increasing retention and role satisfaction. Participation in research and innovation
including the staffTIME project, culture of care (national QI project), civility and respect, TR-GM, and the anti-racism steering group.
Estates and Environments
NHS estates and environments play a crucial role in the facilitating of TIC, by influencing the
physical and emotional experience of our patients, service users and carers, and our staff.
Environments can support the principles of TIC, promoting safety, trust, and healing. By
embedding TI principles into future estates and environment planning, health care settings
can become more trauma informed, supporting recovery, and creating positive, collaborative
environments for staff.
Evidence Based Practice
GMMH are committed to understanding the evidence base for trauma informed approaches,
trauma informed quality improvement, and evaluation for trauma informed practice. We will
introduce a rolling programme of benchmarking across all services. We will adopt practices,
approve policies, and create environments underpinned by current knowledge of trauma that
seek to reduce the risk of re-traumatisation and promote wellbeing. We will work in
collaboration with people who use our services and their families and carers to promote their
voices and choices.
Leadership and culture
Using trauma informed approaches to underpin a culture of compassion and kindness, where
everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Embedding the guiding principles of trauma
informed care, to become a trauma informed organisation. Creating services that feel safe to
access, work with or in, because it operates with honesty, transparency, and integrity. Sharing
learning from QI projects alongside active peer worker involvement. Our governance,
leadership and management are underpinned by the six principles of TIC and aligned to our
values to demonstrate effectiveness.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss any interest further, please contact Amanda
via email to arrange a teams or telephone call.
Amanda K Smith
Trust Lead for Trauma Informed Care
AmandaKathryn.Smith@gmmh.nhs.uk
PLACE Inspector
PLACE (Patient Led Assessments of the Care Environment) Inspector
We are looking for individuals to help us form a trust wide PLACE inspection team. Throughout the year the PLACE inspection team will visit all of our inpatient wards at Prestwich, Manchester, Bolton, Salford, Trafford, and Wigan, making sure that Greater Manchester Mental Health is providing the best environments for its service users. The team looks at a variety of standards such as: cleanliness, quality of the food, privacy and dignity, the buildings general condition and maintenance & how the environment supports the care of those with dementia.
We are looking for applications from service users and carers with recent experience of mental health wards.
We will be providing PLACE inspection training prior to you starting and ongoing 1:1 support.
Our Inspectors are paid for their time; the rate of pay is £11.44 per hour. We will reimburse all public travel expenses or mileage costs if using your own car.
For more information
Tel: 0161 358 0833 / 07917 232302
Alternatively, email: ruth.lyons@gmmh.nhs.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Poster: PLACE Assessor Poster.pdf
As a service user, relative or carer using our services, sometimes you may need to turn to someone for help, advice, and support.
Find resources for carers and service users Contact the Trust