Mental Health Support Worker

Job summary

Part Time - 24 hours per week

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 3 Mental Health Support Worker to join the St Ives/St Neots Older People's Community Mental Health Team, covering Huntingdon and the surrounding villages supporting patients in their own homes and communities.

Key objectives are to support and treat patients living with various mental illnesses such as depression and dementia, and advise their carers.You'll work within a dynamic multidisciplinary team, delivering recovery-focused care under the guidance of registered practitioners. As a support worker, you will implement provided care plans, manage risk, prevent hospital admissions and work with carers to prevent carer burnout and care placement breakdown. We'relooking forsomeonemotivated, proactive, ideally with local knowledge and values aligned with CPFT .

The successful candidate will bring not only experience of supporting people living with mental illness but an ability to be compassionate, innovative, inspired to make a difference.We offer excellent development opportunities, including structured training, clinical supervision, role-specific competencies, apprenticeships, mentoring, and shadowing. With clear career pathways and regular appraisals,we'llsupport you to grow and progress.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work within St Ives, Huntingdon, St Neots, and the surrounding geographical areas.

The team is an Older People's Mental Health Team for older adults, and the post holder will be required to work in a variety of locations, such as nursing and residential homes, as well as patients' own homes. Some cross-team work may also be required depending on service needs.

The support worker will work within the multidisciplinary community team, holding a supervised caseload. The post holder will take an active role in delivering care and support to patients with functional mental illnesses, such as depression and psychosis, and organic illnesses i.e. dementia. They will manage delegated tasks for a number of service users under the supervision of a registered mental health practitioner.

The post holder will support clinical staff in the management and delivery of clinical practice and will provide a high standard of care in line with NICE guidance and other statutory and organisational frameworks.

About us

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.

All appointments are subject to the successful completion of a probationary period.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

• Assist in the delivery of a high standard of person-centred care to service users, promoting their dignity and equality.
• Assist OPMH Care Coordinators in the devising and carrying out of individual care plans.
• Plan and prioritise own visits to delegated patients, (and ensure these are documented on SystmOne)
• Ensuring that all duties are carried out to the highest possible standard and are in accordance with current quality initiatives.
• Record interventions correctly and in line with legislation, policy and procedure using SystmOne and have a proficient standard of IT.
• Assist service users to maintain personal care if required.
• Take appropriate action to manage any urgent risks, summoning assistance when necessary.
• Report actual or potential problems to the Team Manager / Clinical Lead Mental Health Practitioner or care coordinator.
• Establish and maintain professionally collaborative relationships with nursing / residential homes, JET, ICT and other professional groups.
• Assist carers (either paid or unpaid) to maintain their contribution to the service users care.
• Support and assist the team in assessing and managing identified risks in the service users home environment, in relation to the physical environment and risks posed by equipment and people.
• Promote patient independence and self-management.
• Raise and report any safeguarding issues to the multidisciplinary team and safeguarding lead.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential

• Good standard of general education

Desirable

• GCSE's in English Language
• Diploma/GNVQ in Health & Social Care

Experience

Essential

• Experience of delivering hands on care
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems or older people
• Experience of working in a Health acute care and / or community setting.

Desirable

• Lived experience of mental health
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of working with older people living with Dementia

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Able to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision
• Ability to undertake further training at NVQ level 3/ Care Certificate
• Robust verbal and written communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Familiar with using information technology
• Able to plan and prioritise workload under supervision
• Understands the person centred care agenda

Desirable

• Previous work with electronic record keeping systems
• Demonstrates understanding of the needs a person who lives with dementia has on a day to day basis
• Knowledge of or links to third sector providers such as the Alzheimer Society and / or Age UK
• Local knowledge of the area

Physical Requirements

Essential

• Ability to tolerate long periods of concentration

Other

Essential

• Positive approach to older people
• Recognise peoples right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect
• Ability to travel independently around Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area meeting required timescales. A Full driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential
• Committed to personal and team development