Rough Sleeper Mental Health Practitioner in Canterbury

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust has an exciting opportunity for an experienced mental health professional to come and work with the new East Kent Mental Health Rough Sleepers Service. The team work closely with the borough councils to enhance the homelessness services for vulnerable rough sleepers and those at risk of sleeping on the streets. The project provides the opportunity to tackle the ongoing needs of vulnerable rough sleepers who have fallen out of services, or who will not engage with traditional pathways of support and housing, often with chaotic lives and a history of offending, drug and alcohol use and being excluded from mainstream services. With estimates ranging from 40%-80% of the rough sleeping population living with mental illness, it is a major contributory factor to people not being able to find or maintain a home. As rough sleepers average age of death is 43, we cannot let this need go unmet.,

• Carry out regular outreach alongside homelessness staff to identify unmet mental health needs and make appropriate referrals.
• Visit vulnerable people in our supported accommodation, housing first flats, or general needs accommodation, to assess if they have the right level and type of support around their mental health needs.
• Identify where people need to be fast tracked into primary care services.
• Advise colleagues across the Mental Health Rough Sleeper Service and to our housing related support services regarding good practice.
• Take part in two monthly rough sleeper counts in the early hours of the morning.
• Attend operational groups and panels to agree best use of housing resources available to meet the needs of rough sleepers.

  We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated \’Good\’ by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.

Our vision is simple

We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It\’s why we\’re passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident. Join us – if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that\’s doing well together.

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