Part time support worker - 15 hour role

Kirtling House is a highly successful Residential Mental Health Recovery & Support Service in central Winchester, and due to our continued success, we are looking to add to our staff team. We are seeking an inspiring and compassionate person, who can work creatively alongside people with mental health needs on their journey towards greater wellbeing & independence.

Utilising your passion for empowering people with complex mental health and social care needs, you will be supporting individuals to increase their independence & life quality. Your role will be encouraging and assisting people to complete and learn daily tasks such as cooking, budgeting and exploring opportunities in the community as well as supporting with skills to self-manage mental wellbeing.

Key Responsibilities:

• Establish and maintain relationships of trust with service users, to build engagement.
• Work flexibly with service users and help them set, prioritise and achieve personal goals, to increase hope, motivation and ambition.
• Value the lived experience of service users and enable them to use that experience to support each other and improve their experience.
• Carry out assessments and determine urgency of service user needs.
• Work with professionals from other agencies and make onward referrals.
• Carry out risk assessments, in order to keep service users safe and improve the quality of our support.
• Attend placement reviews.
• Work with service users on a 1:1 basis and in groups.
• Assist service users to navigate the benefits and education systems; manage friendships and family relationships; manage medication, including supporting people by prompting and/or administering medication according to Together procedures; manage their lives by helping with bills, forms, mail and appointments, accompanying service users to appointments as and when necessary.
• Undertake, and assist with, domestic tasks such as cooking and cleaning, ensuring adherence to infection control (training provided).
• Assist service users with personal care as and when required.
• Adhere to the Together policy on lone working.
• Make timely records which are concise, accurate, written for the service user to understand, using Together computer-based systems.
• Write clear word processed and handwritten reports (training provided) and records in English.
• Participate in mandatory and job-related courses and learning activities.
• Maintain professional boundaries in all aspects of work with service users.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise:

Essential:

• Experience in supporting vulnerable individuals gained from paid work and/or voluntary and/or life experience.
• Minimum of GCSE or Level II qualification in English, or equivalent.
• Basic competence in the use of email and word processing software.
• Able to travel; have access to car/public transport.
• Able to work a varying pattern of shifts on a 24 hour 7-day week rota, with notice.
• DBS clearance.
• Demonstrate a non-judgemental attitude and be able to be empathetic towards service users and create a trusting environment.
• Able to work in partnership with services users and establish and maintain professional boundaries.
• Able to establish and maintain a safe environment.
• Willing and able to undertake domestic tasks with, and for, service users as necessary.
• Demonstrate problem-solving skills relating to welfare benefits, education and relationships.
• Open to - and willing to participate in - formal and informal job-related learning.
• Willing and able to collaborate with colleagues and other organisations.
• Able to use email and computerised systems for service user records and reports.
• Able to produce clear records and reports in English.

Desirable:

• Lived experience of mental distress.
• NVQ Level II in Health and Social Care, or equivalent.