Lived Experience Support Worker (Ref:0086ZD)

About the Role

Join our team as a Lived Experience Worker in Stoke-on-Trent. 

Are you a compassionate and motivated individual who wants to change people’s lives? Our Stoke Community Drug and Alcohol service are looking for a Lived Experience Support Worker to join them in providing high quality recovery care to a diverse client group. If you are looking for a role where you can connect with and support people who are using drugs or alcohol using your own lived experience, and are passionate about changing people’s lives for the better, we’d love to hear from you.

As a leading charity supporting people with drug, alcohol, and mental health challenges, we operate over 80 services across England and Scotland, providing free and confidential support to more than 100,000 people each year. Find out more about us here.

Please refer to the linked job description to support your application. Please note that having experienced your own journey with drugs or alcohol and being willing to use that experience to help others is essential for this position.

The closing date for applications is 20th November 2025. Please note: This role may close earlier than the stated deadline if we receive a high volume of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.  All applicants must submit a CV along with a cover letter explaining why they should be considered for this role. Applications will not be accepted without a cover letter. 

Job Opportunity

Our Lived Experience Support Workers are an active and integral part of our teams, bringing ideas and solutions so we can develop and improve our recovery communities and helping our clients to get back onto the path to recovery. In your role, you will reach people through outreach, harm reduction, structured interventions and activities and will show through your own experience, knowledge and learning that change is possible.

Using your lived experience, you will support our clients with their journey either into recovery or maintaining their recovery. You'll experience all projects within our services, building your knowledge and experience, as well as completing all the essential learning you'll need in order to move towards becoming a recovery worker. The aim will be to work up to managing your own caseload, working with clients to achieve their own individual goals and ambitions.

This is a full time, fixed term position until 31/03/2026 with a salary of £24,570 per annum. Some Saturday and late night working will be required on a rota basis. 

If you think this could be the career for you, take the first step and apply now to join our amazing team.

Essential Skills

We’re looking for a compassionate and motivated individual, with an exceptional ability to build meaningful relationships:

• You will have been on your own journey with drugs or alcohol and will be willing to use that experience to help others and work as part of a team to ensure a high quality service is maintained
• You will have relevant experience (voluntary or paid) in the health and social care sector and/or clear motivations for applying
• You will be able to develop relationships of trust whilst maintaining professional boundaries
• You will have the ability to be part of a team and also be able to use your own initiative and work alone
• You will be committed to obtaining a relevant Level 2 or 3 qualification

Above all, we are looking for someone who is passionate about what we do and has a positive and engaging approach to our clients and key stakeholders. 

About Company

WithYou provides free and confidential support, without judgement, to more than 100,000 people every year experiencing challenges with drugs, alcohol and mental health across England and Scotland.

Our name reflects who we are – a positive place where people can progress, connect with others and get friendly, expert help in a way that’s right for them.

Our staff team changes lives. If you’re passionate about helping people get the support they need for issues with drugs, alcohol and mental health, we’d love to hear from you.

DE&I

As an organisation, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our staff. We know that representing the communities we serve is key to us meeting our vision of a future where everyone lives a life free from the harm associated with drugs and alcohol. We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring and we encourage people from underrepresented communities and backgrounds to apply to join our team, including people with lived experience, people with disabilities, people from racialised communities, LGBTQ+ people, people of all ages and armed forces veterans.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant we provide a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates that are veterans and meet all the essential criteria for a role. With You is also a Disability Confident Employer and we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with a disability and meet all the essential criteria for a role.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.

Benefits

• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays 
• An extra day off for your birthday or a special occasion of your choice
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• 2 days paid volunteer leave per year
• Auto-enrollment into We Are With You’s pension scheme
• Access to a Blue Light Card - giving you great savings on big high-street and online brands
• Flexible working opportunities and access to a range of services and resources to support you with your wellbeing
• We have an excellent Refer a Friend scheme which offers you a £500 bonus for any recommendations, any role! Our scheme allows you to recommend your friends and family to work with us and earn a £500 bonus payment for every successful referral you make. Please note, the Refer a Friend scheme is only applicable if your recommended friend completes their 6 months probation period