Job summary
CHUMS is an innovative, thriving
and dynamic Social Enterprise that feels like a family. CHUMS left the NHS in 2011 to become an
independent Social Enterprise affording more freedom to offer its services in a
way that best suits the needs of children, young people and families. As an NHS approved provider of clinical
services for children and young people, CHUMS offers a range of support for presenting
issues across the spectrum of mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for an enthusiastic
Family Care Practitioner who will be responsible for supporting the emotional
wellbeing service in the delivery of timely psychological interventions to
children and young people with mild to moderate emotional wellbeing, or mental
health difficulties. Support will also
be offered to their families as well as professionals working with children and
young people in Bedfordshire.
We are particularly interested in
practitioners who have expertise in working with complex family needs or young
people whose emotional wellbeing needs potentially relate to a neurodevelopmental
condition.
About us
CHUMS is an innovative, thriving and dynamic Social Enterprise that feels like a family. CHUMS left the NHS in 2011 to become an independent Social Enterprise affording more freedom to offer its services in a way that best suits the needs of children, young people and families. As an NHS approved provider of clinical services for children and young people, CHUMS offers a range of support for presenting issues across the spectrum of mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
We offer agile working as well as
home working and a working base in our head office in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
Job description
Job responsibilities
DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Communication and
Relationships:
- Provide family and individual support to enhance
communication in the family and to implement strategies to empower
parents/carers to support their children.
- To provide individual support to children and
young people to help them understand some of the difficulties/feelings they are
experiencing and empower them to understand why some of these issues occur and
how they might best deal with them in the future.
- To provide support to professionals in school
and other environments to enable them to support children/young people in their
care with a variety of emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.
- Assist with the services strategy for working with
schools and other agencies working with children and young people in Bedfordshire.
- Promote the work of the service.
- Assist in the organisation and delivery of various
workshop/group programmes for children/young people and their parents/carers.
- Deliver training on emotional wellbeing and
positive mental health in children and young people to professionals in a
variety of settings.
- To be a source of advice, information and
assistance to families and partner organisations, particularly schools, health
and social.
- Participate in appraisal, development and
evaluation of the service.
- Develop resources for use by volunteers and
schools.
Key relationships:
- CHUMS
CEO
- Emotional
Wellbeing Support Service staff
- Child
bereavement and trauma team
- CHUMS
volunteer team
- School
staff
- Families
- CAMHS
- Other
volunteering agencies (i.e. Relate, Sorted, Plan B)
Analytical and
Judgemental:
- Required to understand complex facts of
situations with children/young people and their families which require a
comparison of a range of options. Undertake initial assessment of childrens
and family's needs which may include multiple and complex issues, including
being able to identify clinical and safeguarding risk and manage it appropriately.
- To provide appropriate information to families
and professionals about the needs of children and young people with a variety
of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing or mental health difficulties.
- To be aware of referral on to other appropriate
agencies
- To work within the remit of the service and your
skill base and seek supervision appropriately.
Planning and
Organisation:
- Manage own diary and caseload.
- Assist in the co-ordination of workshops for
children, young people and their families.
- Plan, develop and facilitate ongoing support in
the form of parents groups, drop in facilities.
- To assist in the planning and delivering of
training programmes to professionals on working with children and young people
with a range of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing or mental health
difficulties.
- To assist with the formulation of plans for
service development in conjunction with the CEO and other members of the child
bereavement, trauma and emotional wellbeing teams.
Physical:
- Combination of sitting, standing, walking, frequently
in a restricted position.
- Frequent travel across the county.
- Frequent lifting of resources.
- Keyboard skills.
- Assessment tools.
Patient and Client
Care:
- Develop and deliver therapeutic care
interventions to children, young people and their families.
- Support volunteers to deliver appropriate care
interventions to children and their families.
- Provide specialist advice to families and other
professionals on a range of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and mental
health issues affecting children and young people.
Policy and Service:
- Follows policies in own role.
- Implements policies and proposes changes to
practice and procedures for own area of working and works in conjunction with
the CHUMS team to develop practice for the wider service.
Financial and Physical Resources:
- Personal duty of care in relation to equipment
and resources.
- Careful use of all facilities used by CHUMS.
Human Resources:
- Co-facilitate training for other professionals in
supporting children, young people and their families with a variety of mild to
moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties
Information Resources:
- Records personally generated information
- Writes up own case notes following individual
support offered to children and young people
- Writes reports in relation to the needs of individual
children and young people to other agencies where appropriate.
Research and Development:
- Contributes to regular audit/ evaluation and
analysis of clinical activity in relation to own work and CHUMS
- Undertakes occasional research projects in own
specialist area as required.
Freedom to Act:
- Works independently with families and volunteers
within policies and codes of conduct.
- Is supervised rather than managed.
Additional
information:
Mental Effort:
- Frequent intense concentration
- In-depth proactive mental attention for
assessment and during interventions offered to bereaved children and young
people
- Intense concentration for delivering training
- Intense concentration for facilitating groups
for children, young people and parent/carers
Emotional Effort:
- Frequent highly distressing or emotional
circumstances in supporting children/young people and their families who may
suffering as a result of a variety of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and
mental health difficulties.
- Frequent dealing with multiple complex issues.
Working Conditions:
- Occasional/frequent unpleasant conditions.
- Occasional/ frequent risk of physical/ verbal
aggression.
Job description
Job responsibilities
DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Communication and
Relationships:
- Provide family and individual support to enhance
communication in the family and to implement strategies to empower
parents/carers to support their children.
- To provide individual support to children and
young people to help them understand some of the difficulties/feelings they are
experiencing and empower them to understand why some of these issues occur and
how they might best deal with them in the future.
- To provide support to professionals in school
and other environments to enable them to support children/young people in their
care with a variety of emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.
- Assist with the services strategy for working with
schools and other agencies working with children and young people in Bedfordshire.
- Promote the work of the service.
- Assist in the organisation and delivery of various
workshop/group programmes for children/young people and their parents/carers.
- Deliver training on emotional wellbeing and
positive mental health in children and young people to professionals in a
variety of settings.
- To be a source of advice, information and
assistance to families and partner organisations, particularly schools, health
and social.
- Participate in appraisal, development and
evaluation of the service.
- Develop resources for use by volunteers and
schools.
Key relationships:
- CHUMS
CEO
- Emotional
Wellbeing Support Service staff
- Child
bereavement and trauma team
- CHUMS
volunteer team
- School
staff
- Families
- CAMHS
- Other
volunteering agencies (i.e. Relate, Sorted, Plan B)
Analytical and
Judgemental:
- Required to understand complex facts of
situations with children/young people and their families which require a
comparison of a range of options. Undertake initial assessment of childrens
and family's needs which may include multiple and complex issues, including
being able to identify clinical and safeguarding risk and manage it appropriately.
- To provide appropriate information to families
and professionals about the needs of children and young people with a variety
of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing or mental health difficulties.
- To be aware of referral on to other appropriate
agencies
- To work within the remit of the service and your
skill base and seek supervision appropriately.
Planning and
Organisation:
- Manage own diary and caseload.
- Assist in the co-ordination of workshops for
children, young people and their families.
- Plan, develop and facilitate ongoing support in
the form of parents groups, drop in facilities.
- To assist in the planning and delivering of
training programmes to professionals on working with children and young people
with a range of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing or mental health
difficulties.
- To assist with the formulation of plans for
service development in conjunction with the CEO and other members of the child
bereavement, trauma and emotional wellbeing teams.
Physical:
- Combination of sitting, standing, walking, frequently
in a restricted position.
- Frequent travel across the county.
- Frequent lifting of resources.
- Keyboard skills.
- Assessment tools.
Patient and Client
Care:
- Develop and deliver therapeutic care
interventions to children, young people and their families.
- Support volunteers to deliver appropriate care
interventions to children and their families.
- Provide specialist advice to families and other
professionals on a range of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and mental
health issues affecting children and young people.
Policy and Service:
- Follows policies in own role.
- Implements policies and proposes changes to
practice and procedures for own area of working and works in conjunction with
the CHUMS team to develop practice for the wider service.
Financial and Physical Resources:
- Personal duty of care in relation to equipment
and resources.
- Careful use of all facilities used by CHUMS.
Human Resources:
- Co-facilitate training for other professionals in
supporting children, young people and their families with a variety of mild to
moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties
Information Resources:
- Records personally generated information
- Writes up own case notes following individual
support offered to children and young people
- Writes reports in relation to the needs of individual
children and young people to other agencies where appropriate.
Research and Development:
- Contributes to regular audit/ evaluation and
analysis of clinical activity in relation to own work and CHUMS
- Undertakes occasional research projects in own
specialist area as required.
Freedom to Act:
- Works independently with families and volunteers
within policies and codes of conduct.
- Is supervised rather than managed.
Additional
information:
Mental Effort:
- Frequent intense concentration
- In-depth proactive mental attention for
assessment and during interventions offered to bereaved children and young
people
- Intense concentration for delivering training
- Intense concentration for facilitating groups
for children, young people and parent/carers
Emotional Effort:
- Frequent highly distressing or emotional
circumstances in supporting children/young people and their families who may
suffering as a result of a variety of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and
mental health difficulties.
- Frequent dealing with multiple complex issues.
Working Conditions:
- Occasional/frequent unpleasant conditions.
- Occasional/ frequent risk of physical/ verbal
aggression.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Health, education, social care or counselling qualification
- Evidence of further therapeutic training if not part of the original professional qualification.
- Knowledge of child development
- Safeguarding children (level 2)
- Safeguarding adults (level 1)
- Appropriate accreditation or working towards accreditation
Desirable
- Child and Adolescent counselling certificate
- Computer, IT skills
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Excellent communication skills in supporting both adults and children as well as other professionals
- Basic keyboard and IT skills
Other
Essential
- Ability to identify and provide support to volunteers who are vulnerable or need some individual encouragement
- Car owner
- Will be office based but will be required to travel to visit children and families
- Ability to work flexible hours to meet the needs of the service
Experience
Essential
- Good understanding of the needs of children/young people and their families with a variety of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties
- Experience of working with children and young people in both a group and individual setting
- Experience of facilitating groups
- Experience of developing care packages and taking responsibility for clients
- Ability to record and report on data relating to own clinical and non-clinical activity
Desirable
- Experience of working in a multi disciplinary setting
- Experience of delivering training
- Experience of working alongside Childrens Social Care.
- Experience of working with young people with a neurodevelopmental diagnosis.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Warm facilitating style with children, families and other professionals and the ability to work co-operatively for the benefit of service users.
- Ability to cope with high workload and multiple demands on time
- Ability to manage time effectively and prioritise workload
- Ability to deal with highly distressing and emotive situations
- A demonstrated commitment to service development through evaluation and audit
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Health, education, social care or counselling qualification
- Evidence of further therapeutic training if not part of the original professional qualification.
- Knowledge of child development
- Safeguarding children (level 2)
- Safeguarding adults (level 1)
- Appropriate accreditation or working towards accreditation
Desirable
- Child and Adolescent counselling certificate
- Computer, IT skills
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Excellent communication skills in supporting both adults and children as well as other professionals
- Basic keyboard and IT skills
Other
Essential
- Ability to identify and provide support to volunteers who are vulnerable or need some individual encouragement
- Car owner
- Will be office based but will be required to travel to visit children and families
- Ability to work flexible hours to meet the needs of the service
Experience
Essential
- Good understanding of the needs of children/young people and their families with a variety of mild to moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties
- Experience of working with children and young people in both a group and individual setting
- Experience of facilitating groups
- Experience of developing care packages and taking responsibility for clients
- Ability to record and report on data relating to own clinical and non-clinical activity
Desirable
- Experience of working in a multi disciplinary setting
- Experience of delivering training
- Experience of working alongside Childrens Social Care.
- Experience of working with young people with a neurodevelopmental diagnosis.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Warm facilitating style with children, families and other professionals and the ability to work co-operatively for the benefit of service users.
- Ability to cope with high workload and multiple demands on time
- Ability to manage time effectively and prioritise workload
- Ability to deal with highly distressing and emotive situations
- A demonstrated commitment to service development through evaluation and audit
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.
