Job Purpose
* This role sits within our crisis alternative service, Safe Space, which is a core and out of hours service providing a safe and welcoming space for people who are feeling distressed and experiencing crisis. Our aim of the service is to keep individuals well in the community and prevent readmission into hospital. The service operates 365 days a year from 14:00-22:00pm across all our boroughs.
* Staff within the service will provide person-centred, practical and emotional support, face to face or via telephone or virtual on a one-to-one basis to individuals experiencing mental health crisis or preventing crisis.
* The objectives of the service include:
* To improve the mental wellbeing of people experiencing mental health and social crisis in HFEH.
* To proactively work with keeping people well in the community to reduce re-admitters into hospitals by working with WL NHS teams (e.g. discharge, LPS, CATT, MINT and SPA)
* To provide a true alternative to A&E via a non-clinical drop-in service to support clients
* To provide support to clients accessing the service- for instance: signposting, de-escalation and crisis recovery planning.
* To contribute to an improvement in individual mental wellbeing.
* To remain a source of independent support for all clients.
* To treat service users with respect, dignity and personalised support
* To raise awareness of mental health services available with the goal to improve long term mental health and reduce social isolation
* To increase self-management skills of those accessing the service
* To reduce the use of police, ambulance and statutory mental health services whilst experiencing crisis via a drop-in service.
* To reduce the use of statutory crisis services by people experiencing mental ill health without positive outcomes for the individual.
The Role
The role of the senior support worker is to support the team manager with the smooth running of the allocated site and staff; supporting development and rest of the team including volunteer recruiting, induction (training and development) and supervision. Senior support worker will also lead in delivering interventions on a one-to-one. The role will also involve triaging and assessing all clients accessing the service, signposting and delivering collaborative self-management plans with clients to improve mental wellbeing. The role will include deputising for the team manager where applicable including debriefing and providing support to the team.
Key Responsibilities
* Providing a person centred and recovery orientated approach in all aspects of the roles and responsibilities.
* Understanding of risk and risk management
* Understanding safeguarding adults and children processes and legal requirements
* Working closely with re-admitters and clients being discharged through the drop-in service on a weekly basis
* Responsible for keeping allocated site to a high standard and reporting any health and safety concerns
* To work autonomously in a fast-paced environment and under pressure
* To attend all mandatory training including safeguarding and GDPR.
* Good time keeping skills - Essential
* To attend and contribute at weekly team meetings
* This role will be considered a key worker role
* Understanding of safety planning and de-escalation
* Experience of working with challenging behaviour
* Working collaboratively with clients to understand their needs and developing flexible and realistic crisis support packages/person centred plans
* Promoting people’ rights and responsibilities
* Considering each person as an individual
* Listening to clients and encouraging positive steps towards self-management of crisis and recovery
* Providing advice, information, practical and emotional support to clients
* Proactively recognising the indicators of deteriorating mental health and facilitate appropriate action, whilst liaising with relevant agencies e.g. CATT, Emergency Duty Teams, CMHTS, etc
* Engaging with clients to show empathy, inspire hope and promote recovery
* Establishing supportive, empowering and respectful relationships with clients and carers/ family
* Maintaining accurate records, detailing interventions
* Ensuring that outcomes, outputs and impact are recorded
* Understanding CQC standards and NICE guidelines around mental health
* Providing administrative support to the team
* Overseeing and provide shadowing to new staff members and volunteers
* Attend reflective practice, peer debriefing and line management supervision
* Maintaining good working relationships with partner agencies
* Actively participate in training and development
* Provide guidance to support workers and volunteers
* To work with team managers and assist with reporting and monitoring
*
Person Specification
* Minimum of 1 year working in mental health services and with clients experiencing mental health distress and crisis
* Experience of contributing to multi-disciplinary teams
* Experience of de-escalation
* Experience of managing challenging behaviour and dealing with clients with complex needs
* Evidence of continual professional development
* Understanding of the Recovery Model in mental health
* Understanding of the principles of trauma informed care
* Understanding of suicide prevention and safety planning
* Experience of managing safeguarding risks and understanding legal requirements for safeguarding adults and children
* Understanding of how to report and mitigate risks
* Understanding of the relationship between mental health and social issues and how these issues may impact on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
* Understanding of relevant legislation and policies
* Understanding safeguarding adults and children processes and legal requirements
* Awareness of issues in mental health service provision
* Experience of working with vulnerable individuals
* Creative and flexible approach to working with individuals
* Ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations in a calm manner and de-escalate challenging situations
* Ability to prioritise and manage workload
* Ability to involve clients and carers in all aspects of work
* Empathy and non-judgemental approach
* Good communication skills
* Capacity to work within an agreed shift pattern
* Experience of delivering information and advice (housing, benefits, debt etc)
* Experience of non-clinical, therapeutic interventions like psychoeducation
* Good IT skills including Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, with proven ability to input and extract information and produce reports
* Understanding of different databases such as Views, Salesforce and NHS
* Car driver with sole ownership of a vehicle and ability to travel to multiple locations (e.g. NHS sites and community sites) would be essential.
* Ability to work out of hours and on weekends at multiple locations including NHS sites and community sites