Social Worker

As a Registered Social Worker, you will deliver high quality, safe care, ensuring consistently high standards of practice, which comply with Social Work England Code of Practice. The post holder will co-ordinate, negotiate and manage the mandatory processes and procedures to ensure the unit's compliance with current legislation and statutory regulation. Taking appropriate action to maintain a humanistic and compassionate ethos whilst working with complex situations of social need and risk, including balancing competing views and rights. The role includes working with the Multi-disciplinary team to deliver person centred care in a collaborative way focusing on personalisation and recovery and supporting individuals to make positive, self-directed change.

Responsibilities:

• To provide expertise and leadership in Safeguarding.
• To bring clear focus on the rights of all service users and their families, including the ability to investigate, evaluate and learn from allegations to improve safety, dignity and compassion within the unit.
• To work as part of the Multi-disciplinary Team focusing on prevention, early intervention, building resilience and self-care, reducing and delaying dependency.
• To undertake assessments, care plans and where required Tribunal Report to determine eligibility and support the access to services under relevant social care framework.
• Within assessments and interventions, identify and address social exclusions, its causes and effects on mental wellbeing and mental health.
• To work with service users to resolve their own problems and make their own sustainable support arrangements, which might include social care and health resources.
• To work in partnership with service users wherever possible, shifting from the professional being 'on top' to 'on tap', a resource and collaborator not a controller.
• To promote empowerment, equality and social inclusion.
• To promote a social model with a bio/psycho/social holistic approach to care planning and recovery.
• To work alongside the service user and their carers supporting them with issues including housing, employment and finances, striving to support social inclusion.
• Enable service users, as far as possible, to be fully involved in their care and treatment. To support them to contribute to the design and delivery of future services taking into account 'no decision about me without me' intentions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
• To work with service users to support their discharge in terms of planning, aftercare and community support as required.
• To promote carers' rights and access to assessments and resources.
• Where required, be involved in statutory community and multi-agency partnership forums (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements MAPPA and Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference).

Knowledge / Education / Skills:

• Degree level Social Work qualification.
• Registration with Social Work England.
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of current Mental Health Legislation and framework including the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding Legislation including The Care Act 2014.
• Have the skills and knowledge about multidisciplinary recovery-focused practice, emphasising hope, control and opportunity.
• Demonstrate a critical knowledge of the theories and models for social work intervention with individuals and their families.
• Make use of evidence from research and engage in evidence informed practice to support effective care and work with the individual to support their best interests.
• Be able to gather information quickly and effectively to inform judgement for interventions.
• Model and encourage positive working relationships in the team, promoting strategies for collaborations and a supportive team culture.
• Promote and advance, wherever possible, individuals' rights to autonomy and self-determination.
• Demonstrate ability to interpret and use current legislation and guidance to protect and/or advance people's rights and entitlement, balancing the use of different legislation to achieve the best outcomes.
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of appropriate legal and policy frameworks and guidance. Apply legal reasoning, using professional legal expertise and advice appropriately.
• Be able to provide a professional opinion, giving rationale and knowledge base.
• Sustain and model engagement with people in fluctuating circumstances and capacities.
• Maintain and develop liaison across agencies. Model and demonstrate the ability to work within own unit and work with relationships between units and external organisations.
• Demonstrate confident application of understanding of the benefits and limitations of partnership work and support others to do so.
• Demonstrate and model the effective and positive use of power and authority, whilst recognising and providing guidance to others as to how it may be used oppressively.
• Recognise the short and long-term impact of psychological, socio-economic, environmental and physiological factors on people's lives.
• Model critical reflection; be able to demonstrate the ability to examine your approach, judgements, decisions and interventions. Be able to provide objective support, free from your own values, views and beliefs.
• Creatively combine 'thinking, doing and being' when working with individuals, families, groups, communities and organisations.
• Anticipate, assess and manage risk, including in more complex cases and support others to develop risk management skills.
• Model and help others to maintain professional/personal boundaries and skilled use of self.