Band 4 16 to 25 Community Mental Health Link Worker

West London NHS Trust; London; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare trust in London is seeking a Community Mental Health Link Worker to support young individuals aged 16 to 25. The role involves connecting clients with vital community resources, promoting autonomy, and enhancing mental health recovery. Ideal candidates will have NVQ level 3 or equivalent, excellent interpersonal skills, and a passion for working with youth. This position offers competitive pay and a diverse working environment.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development.
• Experience of 1:1 client work.
• Knowledge of the local community.

Responsibilities

• Connect young people with mental health challenges to community supports.
• Support referrals to appropriate resources.
• Work closely with CAMHS for service transitions.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Customer service skills

Understanding of mental health challenges

Empathy

Interpersonal skills

Education

NVQ level 3 or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Band 4 16 to 25 Community Mental Health Link Worker

An exciting opportunity has arisen for skilled and enthusiastic 16 to 25 Community Mental Health Link Worker within the Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Integrated Network Teams (MINT).

We are seeking to recruit individuals with a good understanding of mental illness as well as excellent communication, personal, and customer service skills, who have a passion for wanting to empower and support young individuals with their recovery journey. We are looking for highly motivated, enthusiastic, and caring individuals who can provide the best possible care with patience and compassion to our service users

The community mental health framework for adults and older adults (2019) set out a vision for providing services in local settings that better reflected the needs of the local population. West London NHS Trust is one of a small number of pilot sites and has developed an exciting new Mental Health Integrated Network Teams (MINT) service that offers service users more needs based, episodic interventions integrated with primary care.

Link Work will be a key specialism within MINT, overseeing recovery focused interventions that make use of community assets as well as those of the multi-disciplinary team.

Main duties of the job

You will play a vital role in connecting young people who are experiencing a challenge with their mental health with community supports and resources. As a Link Worker you will specialise in signposting to and supporting with referrals to identified appropriate community resources, fostering autonomy and promoting independence, building on the individual's strengths and aiding in gaining skills and confidence in collaboratively identified areas of support, as well as escalating concerns should they arise.

You will be comfortable working both on your own and with others from a range of different backgrounds. You'll need to be resilient, motivated, and committed to adapt to working in an ever-changing environment.

As the role develops, you will also spend a portion of your time working closely with CAMHS to support young individuals to access vital services in their community and ensure a smooth transition into adult services.

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as 'Good' overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as 'Outstanding'.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Job responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development appropriate to the role in order to ensure competency and the execution of best clinical practice.
• NVQ level 3 or working towards an equivalent qualification in a relevant subject area or demonstrable equivalent experience

Experience

• Experience of 1:1 client work
• One year or more experience of working or volunteering in mental health services
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across organisations
• Experience and desire to work with young individuals within the 16 to 25 age group.
• Experience of working in a community development context or similar

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the local community
• A good awareness of different models of understanding of mental health
• A good broad understanding of mental health challenges
• Good level of computer skills with knowledge of Word and Excel and ability to input information, use an email system and produce simple plans/reports
• An understanding of the principles of good partnership working
• Thorough understanding of equal opportunities with particular emphasis on how it applies to users of mental health services
• Thorough understanding of the principles of good customer service
• A good understanding of primary, secondary care and third sector mental health services

Personal Qualities

• Ability to listen, empathise and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to take responsibility for key clients
• Ability to produce written materials to a high standard
• Ability to communicate constructively and professionally with service users, staff, colleagues and external agencies
• Ability to work at evenings and weekends, sometimes at short notice, when required to meet work demands
• Ability to implement equal opportunities through anti-discriminatory practice
• Strengths-based recovery approach to client work and person centred practice

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.

£33,094 to £36,195 a yearper annum inclusive of 20% HCAS