Community Support Worker

Job responsibilities

Communication and Relationship skills

Verbal and written information sharing, within the Team or the wider Multi Disciplinary Team, which may include other community based mental health teams and inpatient services.

Ability to communicate clearly and effectively over the telephone within the boundaries of confidentiality.

Maintain accurate, timely paper and electronic records. Ensure they are kept safely in accordance with the Livewell policies, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Confidentiality Policy.

The post holder demonstrates a positive attitude to mental health attending to patients with respect and courtesy.

The post holder will ensure that professional boundaries are always adhered to.

Collaborating in completion of personalised care framework documentation under supervision of a qualified staff ensuring all entries are countersigned in accordance with the Record Keeping Policy

Has confidence to communicate with people who are experiencing mental health difficulties when English is not their first language.

Liaise with MDT members and other agencies at the request of qualified staff.

Attend meetings and be confident to discuss patient care with other Professionals

Assisting patients in various social and therapeutic activities delegated by the qualified staff as care planned in agreement with the key worker.

Collaboratively plan, assess, contribute to the development and delivery of the recovery programme

Co facilitate recovery focused groups with peer navigators, volunteers and other Professionals

Knowledge, Training and Experience

The post holder will participate in updating their practice; knowledge and skills within their sphere of practice, under the guidance of qualified staff, including mandatory training and Mental Health essential training e.g. Mental Health Act and PCF

Experience dealing with a variety of mental health problems in various settings both in the community and in hospital with support and supervision from qualified staff.

To be aware of and adhere to policy and legislation relating to Mental Health and able to access the information both in writing and electronically.

An awareness of Mental Health service delivery.

Adhere to the lone worker policy.

Be aware of standards required by mandatory bodies such as CQC.

Analytical and Judgmental Skills

Able to plan the safest most cost-effective route for community visits.

When working out in the community, have the ability to weigh up situations and seek support and guidance over the telephone where necessary.

Must have the ability to make rapid risk assessments on each visit to promote the safety of the patient, staff, carers and general public, e.g. Risk assessment tools v experience and acting safely to protect all.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Liaise with other services to arrange appointments that both meet patient needs and service demands.

Able to plan own workload including completing White Board (lone worker policy), Implementing a variety of packages of care as outlined in the individual patients care plan. Reporting back to qualified staff. Recording information of visits electronically. Planning further interventions as indicated within the care plan.

Utilise the online diary system for managing visits

Complete and submit e-expenses as per policy

Physical Skills

Confidence to navigate in an urban and rural environment

Competent keyboard skills to enable information to be inputted into electronic clinical database and PCF. Must be able to keep electronic diary up to date and confidence to take on more IT skills as clinical technology improves.

With appropriate training and support ability to take accurate physical observations i.e. blood pressure, pulse and temperature and record in notes advising qualified staff if there were any problems.

Home visits to multi-occupied buildings, many without lifts.

Escorting patients out of their home environment providing programmes of care and ongoing assessment of need (e.g. Anxiety Management Programmes).

Carry out frequent home visits throughout the city

Due to patients living conditions it may be necessary to stand/crouch for periods of time.

Responsibilities

Awareness of independent responsibilities in the implementation of Lone worker policy.

Assist in formulation and planning of care alongside qualified member of staff.

Implement plans of care or patients on the team caseload.

Observe, report and record progress on patients visited in the community and to pass on to the person with overall responsibility. Responsibility to ask qualified staff to countersign written and electronic communication.

Assist qualified staff on assessments or reviews.

Report to qualified staff any perceived risks to patients and staff.

Contribute to clinical case discussions.

Observe for any evidence of side effects of medication and report to qualified staff.

Promote RECOVERY.

Escort patients to appointments where appropriate.

Work with qualified staff to ensure patient care delivered to high standard.

Assist in smooth running of Team base and conducting various administration tasks.

Support new staff when they join the Team.

Be aware of and adhere to all infection control procedures and precautions in line with COVID 19 guidance.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development

Involvement in development of the Team in a named locality of Plymouth.

Adhere to all appropriate National, and the Livewell protocols. Adhere to Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support workers (Skills for Health DM 2013)

Responsibilities for Human Resources

May be involved in interview panels.

The post holder will behave in a manner that does not bring the Team or Livewell southwest into disrepute.

Responsibility for information resources

Responsible for electronic contacts.

Maintain accurate, timely paper and electronic records. Ensure they are kept safely in accordance with the LiveWell SouthWest policy.

Responsibility for Research and Development

Have an awareness of and participate in clinical audit in the Locality Team.

Mental Effort

Accurate record keeping whilst coping with constant interruptions and distraction in the work place for example: telephone calls and questions from colleagues.

Concentration whilst navigating to visits at busy times of day.

Concentration for short and prolonged periods of time depending on the clinical environment.

Managing to extract information from people with communication difficulties due to a variety of different circumstances.

The post holder will constantly deal with sensitive, intricate and complex clinical and service decisions whilst frequently being required to change from one activity to another at a third party request i.e. Telephone or staff interruption and be able to respond in a positive and constructive manner to emergency situations.

Physical Effort

Home visits to multi-occupied buildings, many without lifts.

Escorting patients out of their home environment providing programmes of care and ongoing assessment of need (e.g. Anxiety Management Programmes, recovery group programmes).

Carry out frequent home visits throughout the city.

Due to patients living conditions it may be necessary to stand/crouch for periods of time.

Moving and handling load in line with LiveWell SouthWest policy

Emotional Effort

Ability to deal with people who in mental health crisis on a daily basis e.g.

People actively wishing to kill themselves.

People who self-harm.

People who are volatile.

People who are thought disordered.

People who are very difficult to engage within a therapeutic relationship.

People who are in high states of emotional stress

Ability to cope with stress generated from the constant changing priorities within the Team.

People who may be under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol

Working Conditions

Ability to cope with visiting people who are living a squalid, unpleasant accommodation often dirty and smelling with cigarette smoke.

Ability to make safe decisions and take the necessary action to reduce the risks associated with community work for yourself and colleagues.

Ability to assess the location of the visit and take steps to minimize any risks identified, (e.g. visits to tower blocks, accessing via a lift at night, parking availability, assessment to plan joint visits, visits to high crime areas or anti-social behaviour problems).

Qualifications

Essential

• Maths & English GCSE Grades 4 and above or equivalent
• Commitment to further education
• NVQ III or equivalent in Mental Health and/or able to demonstrate the skills, knowledge and ability to work to this level

Desirable

• Breakaway and or conflict resolution
• Knowledge of Care Programme or PCF
• Approach or Mental Health Law
• Child and adult protection issues
• Certificate in Mental Health level 3

Experience

Essential

• 2-years experience of working and supporting with people with mental health problems
• Experience of Team working

Desirable

• Experience of mental health work within either inpatient or community services
• Multi-disciplinary team working
• Experience of helping people who are suffering from a mental health crisis
• Experience of lone working
• Group work experience

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Ability to travel across Plymouth
• Practical life skills
• Able to follow instruction from qualified practitioners
• Excellent communication skills
• Confident talking to a variety of people
• Clear accurate record keeping
• Keyboard skills
• Self-management skills, e.g., prioritisation, organization of own workload
• Self-aware
• Ability to manage own stress
• Good telephone manner
• Positive attitude to Mental Health
• Belief in Recovery
• Enthusiastic and motivated
• Aware of own boundaries and limitations
• Able to work flexibly

Desirable

• Full and valid driving licence and access to a car for work purposes is required
• Microsoft Outlook
• Familiar with computer based recording systems
• Clinical Risk Assessment Skills
• Able to support service users/carers to access resources that are provided by numerous agencies
• Supporting the change process
• Desire to develop self and services
• Use own initiative

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).