Assertive Outreach Recovery Worker - Sutton

Overview:

We are The Forward Trust (formerly RAPt and Blue Sky), the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

We believe and are committed to providing oportunities to all people including those with \\\’Lived Experience\\\’ we encourage applications from all backgrounds including those in recovery from addiction, co-dependency or gambling, have experience of previous offending or homelessness.

What you will be doing?:

Your role will be to focus on proactively supporting individual’s to positively engage with the service through social prescribing of activities in order to; reduce their sense of isolation, build pro-social connections, alleviate boredom, support their substance misuse treatment needs and improve wellbeing.

You will be based on site working within a team that have a broad skills mix to deliver combined psychosocial and clinical interventions providing recovery-orientated Health and Wellbeing Services to service users aged 18 and over at: HMP Highdown a closed category adult male prison located in Banstead, Sutton.

This will involve working directly with those who are detained in the prison who may present low-level mental health needs and/or substance misuse issues. The service operates 7 days a week therefore weekend working will be a requirement on a rota basis.

You will be responsible for:

• Applying person-centred and strength-based practice to service user engagement
• Providing assertive outreach to those who may be experiencing problems with substance misuse and who may be hard to engage or ambivalent to services.
• Making proactive attempts to re-engage individuals who may have disengaged or have become disconnected from the health & wellbeing services.
• Developing and implementing a framework for needs that may be met through social prescribing
• Engaging with service users and peer mentors to identify service user groups to address social and emotional needs affecting health
• Providing brief advice, motivational interviewing and health coaching whilst having non-judgemental conversations tailored to individual need according to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
• Promoting local services that may be available and developing a social prescribing directory
• Working in partnership to reduce health inequality and health promotion
• Providing a socially prescribed service, ensuring that local health and care professionals and link workers are aware of our service and its referral criteria
• Appropriate promotion and signposting of other services and agencies
• Planning, coordinating and delivering health promotion events
• Pro-actively engaging with other service providers, partners and service user groups
• Delivering bespoke health and wellbeing initiatives as part of social prescribing service offering
• Facilitating regular Service User engagement forums
• Leading in planning and delivering activities for staff and service users relating to health improvement
• Providing appropriate harm reduction advice and guidance, assessing, care planning
• Delivering structured 1:1 and group-work sessions including structured treatment programmes if relevant to the unit you are working in

What we are looking for?:

• Experience of working with service user groups facing experiances of substance misuse and/or low-level mental health issues.
• Demonstratable experience of carrying out assessments of risk and need, with ability to design and implement SMART care planning.
• Strong IT skills.
• Experience of facilitating psychosocial interventions including using motivational interviewing techniques (both 1:1 and group settings).

What we offer:

• Training opportunities and career development
• Flexible working
• Season ticket loan scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Simply Health – Health Cashback Scheme
• 3 x Wellbeing Days (Pro Rata\\\’d for Part Time Employees)
• Access to Blue Light Card
• Cycle to work scheme
• 25 Days annual leave plus Bank Holidays (rising to 30 days with length of service)
• Excellent contributory pension scheme. Employer matched contributions of up 6% in the first two years\\\’ service and up to 9% thereafter.
• Death in service payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical illness insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

Person specification:

Assertive Outreach Recovery Worker JD – Surrey – HMP Highdown