Mental Health Support Worker

Cambridgeshire And Peterborough Nhs Foundation Trust; Huntingdon; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 25,000; Part time

Job summary

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust invites applications 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. You will support patients in their homes and communities, delivering recovery-focused care under registered practitioners.

You will implement care plans, manage risk, prevent hospital admissions and work with carers to reduce carer burnout.

Qualifications

• Good standard of general education.
• GCSEs in English Language desirable.
• Diploma/GNVQ in Health & Social Care desirable.
• Experience delivering hands-on care.
• Experience with mental health or older people.
• Experience in health acute care or community setting.

Responsibilities

• Work within St Ives, Huntingdon, St Neots and surrounding areas.
• Deliver care to patients with mental illness in homes and communities.
• Support risk management and follow NICE guidance.
• Collaborate in a multidisciplinary team and support carers.

Skills

Hands-on care

Mental health experience

Older people care

Communication skills

IT literacy

Person-centred care

Time management

Education

General education

GCSE English

Health & Social Care diploma

Job description

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're looking for someone motivated, 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'll support 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

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

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

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).