Community Mental Health Social Worker

Haringey GP Federation; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the United Kingdom seeks a motivated Social Worker for the Dunstable Community Mental Health Team. This position requires registration with Social Work England and experience in a health or social care setting. As a key member of a multi-disciplinary team, you will provide high-quality social care services and work collaboratively with various stakeholders to support individuals experiencing mental ill-health. A full driving license is essential for this role, and the contract offers flexible working patterns.

Qualifications

• Must be registered with Social Work England.
• Experience in mental health services is essential.
• Car driver essential; full driving license required.

Responsibilities

• Liaise with acute inpatient units and the Crisis Team.
• Provide assessment, care planning and coordination of care.
• Play an active role in the discharge of service users from hospital.

Skills

Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary environment/community experience

Ability to assess and manage complex and high risk situations effectively

Good report writing skills

Well-developed communication skills

Knowledge of relevant safeguarding legislation

Education

Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England

Educated to Degree Level

Job description

Dunstable Community Mental Health Team provides compassionate person-centred interventions to people experiencing mental ill-health in the Towns of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.

Social Workers in the mental health team have access to a host of brand new facilities at the newly opened Grove View Health and care hub!

The new hub strengthens ELFT's award winning social care presence and ethos.

Click on the link below to see our exciting new base for South Bedfordshire Social Workers!

https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/info/18/health_and_social_care/726/grove_view_integrated_health_and_care_hub_and_grove_view_apartments

At the Hub the team Senior Social Worker provides intensive support to ensure that bespoke professional supervision is readily available for all our social workers.

ELFT has a dedicated Social Care Lead locally in Central Bedfordshire. The Social Care Lead offers regular reflective practice sessions, Care Act training.

The excellent work of the Social Work Learning and Development Project Lead ensures that continuous learning is at the heart of Social Work in Bedfordshire.

The Trust offers an established ASYE programme for newly qualified social workers. CPD pathways beyond the ASYE include AMHP/Leadership Academy/AMCP/Practice Educator/ASYE Assessor training structures. Bespoke training opportunities are available as part of your yearly appraisal.

In short; now is a good time to be working as a social worker for ELFT in South Bedfordshire!

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Social Worker to work as part of our team. You will be registered with Social Work England and ideally have one year of post qualifying experience in a relevant health or social care setting; however with our new ASYE programme we would be happy to work with a newly qualified social worker who is able to demonstrate how their pre-qualifying experience and value base would benefit our team.

As a Social Worker, you will work as a member of the multi-disciplinary team, providing high quality social care services to adults experiencing mental ill-health. The core functions of the role will be to provide assessment, care planning and coordination of care from a social perspective to adults accessing the service.

You will hold a caseload of adults experiencing a wide range of mental health and social care needs. You will ensure that you maintain constant reflection and development of your practice and will ensure your continuing professional development in line with the standards set out by the professional regulator, Social Work England.

About us

We have Social Workers who are also Practice Educators and ASYE assessors and are currently promoting this training.

We are proud to work with the diverse communities of Bedfordshire and want our workforce to reflect this diversity, which we believe is beneficial for our employees, the organisation and the communities we serve.

Job responsibilities

In the role, you will liaise with acute inpatient units, the Crisis Team, Primary Care services, the Voluntary and Private Sector and contribute to providing a recovery focussed model of care. You will play an active role in the discharge of our service users from hospital and will commission health and social care services as required. Partnership working is a key component of this post and you will need to be innovative in ensuring that there is a range of appropriate services locally to support individual recovery journeys.

Person Specification

Essential criteria:

• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary environment/community experience.
• Experience of attending funding panels and commissioning care packages.
• Experience of working within an NHS/Local Authority environment and an understanding of the issues/policies/practice within these environments.
• Post-qualification experience within mental health services.
• Previous appointment as an AMHP / Best Interest Assessor (BIA). Social Workers are expected to train and practise as AMHPs.
• Car driver essential and be able to travel between Trust sites throughout the County. Full driving licence.
• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Educated to Degree Level.

Desirable criteria:

• Understanding of the Mental Health Act 1983 and subsequent amendments.
• Additional BIA and AMHP training opportunities.

Knowledge/skills essential criteria:

• Understanding a range of models of mental disorder and treatment options.
• Comprehensive understanding of the social determinants of mental illness and interventions to support recovery.
• Ability to conduct safeguarding enquiries and investigations when required.
• Working knowledge of the NHS & Community Care Act, The Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and other social care & mental health legislation, policy & guidance.
• Ability to assess, manage complex and high risk situations effectively.
• Good report writing skills and ability to compile complex case recording and report presentation, including legal documents such as social circumstances reports and court reports.
• Ability to manage and coordinate professionals, teams and services and mobilise provision where appropriate.
• Assessment skills and ability to compile care plans in partnership with service users, carers and others.
• Knowledge of relevant safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance and procedures.
• Assertiveness and engagement with other professionals, able to make reasoned arguments and represent own professional views and perspectives.
• Decision-making and problem solving, able to adopt creative and flexible approaches to meet the needs of service users.
• Highly developed organisational skills, able to prioritise workload and delegate effectively.
• Well-developed communication skills, able to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences.
• Mental Health Practice Skills and an understanding of CPA and the NSF standards.
• IT skills, experience of working with service user data systems.
• A thorough working knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 and subsequent amendments.

Educational/ Qualification

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England (SWE)
• Educated to Degree Level

Experience

• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary environment/community experience.
• Experience of attending funding panel and care commissioning.
• Experience of working within an NHS/Local Authority environment and an understanding of the issues/policies/practice within these environments.
• Post qualification experience within mental health services.
• Previous appointment as an AMHP /Best Interest Assessor (BIA). NB Social Workers are expected to train and practise as AMHP's

Knowledge/Skills

• Understanding a range of models of mental disorder and the treatment options.
• Comprehensive understanding of the social determinants of mental illness and interventions to support recovery.
• Ability to conduct safeguarding enquiries and investigations when required.
• Working knowledge of the NHS & Community Care Act, The Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and other social care & mental health legislation, policy & guidance.
• Ability to assess, manage complex and high risk situations effectively service users and carers.
• Good report writing skills and ability to compile complex case recording ad report presentation, including legal documents i.e. social circumstances reports, court reports etc.
• Ability to manage and coordinate professionals, teams and services and mobilise provision where appropriate.
• Assessment skills and the ability to compile care plans in partnership with service users, carers and others.
• Knowledge of relevant safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance and procedures.
• Assertiveness and engagement with other professionals, able to make reasoned arguments and represent own professional views and perspectives.
• Decision -making and problem solving, able to adopt creative and flexible approaches to meet the needs of service users.
• Highly developed organisational skills, able to prioritise workload and delegate effectively.
• Well -developed communication skills, able to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences.
• Mental Health Practice Skills and an understanding of CPA and the NSF standards.
• IT skills, experience of working with service user data systems.
• A thorough working knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 and subsequent amendments.

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.

£37,338 to £44,962 a year; per annum pro rata.

Contract: Permanent.

Working pattern: Full-time, Part‑time, Flexible working, Compressed hours.