Mental Health Support Worker - Connection

Job summary

Do you have an interest and experience supporting those in mental health crisis? Connection is looking for Mental Health Support Workers to join their team.

Connection is Dorset's 24/7 open access mental health crisis service,Access Mental Health Dorset.

You will handle telephone calls into the service, providing support and brief interventions to callers. You will need to be a great listener, with excellent communication skills, able to think flexibly and adapt to the situation, offer appropriate advice, with empathy, compassion and expertise. You should have good working knowledge of local statutory and non-statutory services. You will also need to be able to recognise safeguarding and safety concerns and communicate clearly in escalating to the registered practitioners. You will be part of a team providing support and supervision. A full induction and ongoing training are provided along with support for personal development.

Full and part time hours are available based at St Ann's Hospital, shift patterns include weekends, bank holidays and nights. Enhancements are paid after 20:00, plus weekends and Bank Holidays.

Early 7:30 - 15:30

Late 13:00 - 21:00

Long Day shifts option 07:30- 21:00

Twilight 16:00- midnight

Night 20:00- 07:45

Flexible working discussions are welcomed, but this is an on-site post with no remote working option.

We welcome informal visits and shadow shifts, contact Jo Blighton at joanne.blighton@nhs.net or on 01202 492882.

Main duties of the job

You will provide support, brief interventions (for example supporting emotional regulation and anxiety management), advice and signposting.

You will be able to clearly communicate with registered practitioners on shift. And delivery and implementation of care plans, with their support and direction.

You may have the opportunity to go out and support Mental Health Practitioners assessing service users in the community.

This is an ideal post for experienced Health Care Support Workers with experience in Mental Health.

Employment in this post requires an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

About us

At Dorset HealthCare we're on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined-up healthcare services. We're a dynamic, forward-looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost 800,000 people.

We do things differently here - it's one of the reasons the CQC rated us 'outstanding' in 2019. It's also why 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference. Whether you're looking to work with us in one of our bustling market towns, vibrant urban locations, thriving seaside spots, or among the rolling hills of Dorset, there are lots of ways you can make a difference in our communities.

Our 7,000-strong workforce is at the heart of what we do and our success is a testament to our brilliant people. We're all about building a workplace for the future, we believe in equal opportunities and we celebrate diversity. We're an inclusive workplace, where everyone is welcome, everyone can be authentic, and we are all encouraged to be the best version of ourselves.

Working with us you'll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don't know. And you'll be working towards our vision to be better every day through excellence, compassion and expertise in all we do.