Forensic Community Support Worker

To work as an integral and highly valued member of the Multi-Disciplinary Team under the direction and supervision of community mental health practitioner in promoting and monitoring the physical and mental health of service users. Providing person centred and holistic care which enables service users to be empowered and follow their recovery goals.

The Community Support Worker will support individual service users in identifying, accessing and engaging in support in their local community, fulfilling independent life skills and developing an individual support network to promote service user's recovery journey. The post holder will work with service users and carers with assessed eligible social care needs in order to promote recovery or prevent deterioration. They will offer direct support for carers completing carer's assessments, reviews, offering advice & guidance, signposting to support services and completing funding applications.

They will be expected to work under minimal supervision, with adherence to Trust procedures and policies, and to employ value based and socially inclusive practice. Although the Community Support Worker will not lead on safeguarding investigations they will be responsible for detecting, alerting and responding to concerns either through the course of their duties or as directed by a registered practitioner, including contributing to effective protection planning.

Main duties of the job

For details of the main duties of the job please refer to the attached job description and person specification

Person specification

Education Training and Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ level 3 or equivalent mental health experience

Desirable

• Foundation Degree in Mental Health or social care.

Previous Experience

Essential

• Relevant experience working with adults with acute and chronic mental health problems
• Working within a multidisciplinary team environment
• Working with service users and carers within their own homes.

Desirable

• Experience of working with children or within the Safeguarding Children framework
• Experience of working with Learning disabilities

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Ability to work with patients on an individual or group basis, focusing on their recovery pathway.
• Ability to enable and empower patients in a way that increases their self esteem, raises their confidence and help them to identify positive qualities in self.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills relevant to the legal requirements of client care and related issues and the documentation of that care.
• Ability to support the multidisciplinary team in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of mental and physical care appropriate to the needs of the client group and clinical speciality and the ability to use evidenced based approaches in the delivery of care.

Ability to recognise stress in oneself and others and manage appropriately accessing additional support where necessary.

Ability to work autonomously and to work as part of a team

Demonstrate an awareness how your own approach and communication style may impact on service users, their carers and members of your own team.

Be prepared to use reflection in action and on action to gain a deeper understanding and insight from situations and experiences occurring inside and outside the work environment and how these can impact on each other.

Be able to respond with compassion towards clients when they present in a way that is considered aggressive, maladaptive or socially immature or unacceptable

Desirable

• Experience of devising groups and activities.

Knowledge

Essential

• Mental Health issues relevant to adults with acute and chronic mental health issues and or forensic histories
• The impact mental health difficulties have on other areas of a service user's life. I.e. Lack of social inclusion, inability to reach life goals, inability to reach others expectations, inability to maintain relationships. Poverty financial and social.
• An understanding of the Secondary Mental Health service and Mental Health Act and how this impacts on the service user group.

A knowledge and understanding of the Care Act and the rights of individuals

An ability to monitor physical observations and identify when results are outside considered normal parameters.

To have an awareness of the side effects of medication.

Personal attributes (demonstrable)

Essential

• Be motivated to continue with expanding knowledge base.
• Demonstrate practice which embraces the Trust values, caring, respectful and inclusive.
• Be able to maintain motivation to deliver the highest standards of care in a service that faces constant change from internal and external sources.
• Be aware of one's own limitation and when there is a need to expand one's knowledge, develop skills through training, mentorship and coaching.
• Be supportive in the Trust's commitment to research, clinical governance, clinical audit and clinical Assurance.

About the employer

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.