Senior Social Worker - Trusted Relationships (GMRH)
The Trusted Relationships Service has grown from strength to strength since the original Home Office funding in 2018. We have now secured 3 more years of funding and we are looking for two enthusiastic, independent clinicians to come and work alongside our other 8 clinicians, for 2 days a week.
This is a non-case holding post; clinicians do not have any direct patient contact.
Instead, you will work with Police and Social care staff to support their work safeguarding children who are at risk of extrafamilial abuse and exploitation. Based within the Complex Safeguarding teams across Greater Manchester, the Trusted Relationships clinicians work with staff to facilitate psychological awareness, particularly in relation to trauma, by offering case-based consultation, staff support, and bespoke training.
The Trusted Relationships Service is a team within the GM Resilience Hub, and consequently, clinicians have access to a range of expertise and CPD opportunities.
Please be aware that being based in a Police station means it is a requirement of the post to undergo Police vetting.
Main duties of the job
Trusted Relationships clinicians are generally based in Police stations, offering a face-to-face service to Complex Safeguarding staff.
There are three key areas of service delivery:
1. Case-based consultation, offering psychological formulations to help staff understand various factors influencing the children and families they are supporting and how this might impact their relationships and approach to safeguarding.
2. Bespoke training and workshops to teams and sometimes to staff across the wider complex safeguarding workforce.
3. Staff support, which can be one-to-one or in a group format, developed in collaboration with the staff to meet their needs.
There are times when Trusted Relationships clinicians may need to offer support to teams who have experienced a critical incident; however, this is done in collaboration with the Clinical Lead and with the backup of the GM Resilience Hub.
About us
The Trusted Relationships service requires highly specialist clinicians to work with a significant degree of autonomy and independence and have good levels of personal organization. Given the complex nature of the work and the potential for regular exposure to traumatic material, there are many opportunities for support and CPD. The team has regular face-to-face and online team meetings, individual supervisions and line management, a buddy system, and also monthly Compassion-Focused Staff Support and CAT-informed supervision.
Job responsibilities
All Trusted Relationships clinicians work part-time in Complex Safeguarding teams and spend two days a week based at the Police station with the CS team. This work has relationships at its center, and being in the Police station is key to the successful delivery of the work. For this reason, all clinicians need to complete the Police vetting process to gain access to the Police station.
The offer of consultation, staff support, and training is developed in collaboration with the Team managers and staff. The majority of Trusted Relationships input tends to be consultation about children and families, with some occasional attendance at other relevant meetings. Regular staff support may also be offered as a group or one-to-one offer. Bespoke training may also be requested from time to time.
The role requires consultations to be written up for the staff, and all activity is inputted into a spreadsheet for the clinical lead to use for report writing and service evaluation.
This work can, understandably, be very challenging at times, and there is protected time every Thursday afternoon for the Trusted Relationships team to meet online or face-to-face for various team meetings and external supervision and staff support. There are multiple other forms of ad-hoc support available throughout the week.
The Trusted Relationships team is a well-established, well-respected team with passionate, supportive clinicians. The work is always evolving as there is so much everyone continues to learn, both clinically and relationally, and also in the process of service delivery.
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
1. Registered practitioner psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC).
2. Registered social worker or mental health nurse with relevant experience working in psychologically informed multi-agency settings.
3. HCPC registered professional with an additional postgraduate qualification in an evidence-based psychological therapy to Masters Level or equivalent.
4. Psychological therapy qualification and accreditation recognized by the Professional Standards Authority (e.g., UKCP, BABCP, BACP, BPC, etc.) to Masters Level or equivalent.
5. Post-qualification training in one or more additional specialized areas of psychological practice.
6. Post-qualification training in specialist therapeutic work with children, young people, and families (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, IPT, FT).
7. Training and experience in delivering specialist therapeutic group work or support to staff.
Experience
1. Previous experience working in the NHS or other relevant settings, offering consultation or case-based formulation in a psychologically informed, multi-agency setting.
2. Experience of multi-agency working to safeguard adults and/or children and young people.
3. Experience of working with children and/or adults presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a wide range of settings.
4. Experience of exercising full responsibility for clients' care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan, including caseload management.
5. Experience of teaching multi-agency professionals, including the identification of need and development of training packages.
6. Experience of delivering clinical supervision/consultancy with multi-agency staff.
7. Assessed experience of working as a qualified practitioner or psychological therapist for a minimum of four years (with 2 years at a specialist level).
8. Experience of providing staff support following serious incidents.
Knowledge
1. Highly specialized knowledge of mental health issues, including trauma across the lifespan.
2. Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of organizational development and group/team dynamics.
3. Knowledge of children and/or adults with complex needs and neurodiversity.
4. Knowledge of the systemic, developmental, and psychological issues within the context of children at risk of exploitation and/or violence.
5. Specialist training in therapeutic approaches relevant to children and/or adults who have experienced trauma.
Skills and Abilities
1. Highly developed skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professionals in one-to-one and group settings.
2. Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
3. Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
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.
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