Community Mental Health Social Worker

Dunstable Community Mental Health Team provides compassionate person-centred interventions to people experiencing mental ill-health in the Towns of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. Social Workers in the mental health team have access to a host of brand new facilities at the newly opened Grove View Health and care hub. The new hub strengthens ELFT's award winning social care presence and ethos.

At the Hub, the team Senior Social Worker provides intensive support to ensure that bespoke professional supervision is readily available for all our social workers. ELFT has a dedicated Social Care Lead locally in Central Bedfordshire who offers regular reflective practice sessions and Care Act training. The excellent work of the Social Work Learning and Development Project Lead ensures that continuous learning is at the heart of Social Work in Bedfordshire. The Trust offers an established ASYE programme for newly qualified social workers. CPD pathways beyond the ASYE include AMHP/Leadership Academy/AMCP/Practice Educator/ASYE Assessor training structures. Bespoke training opportunities are available as part of your yearly appraisal.

Main duties of the job: We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Social Worker to work as part of our team. You will be registered with Social Work England and ideally have one year of post qualifying experience in a relevant health or social care setting; however, with our new ASYE programme, we would be happy to work with a newly qualified social worker who can demonstrate how their pre-qualifying experience and value base would benefit our team. As a Social Worker, you will work as a member of the multi-disciplinary team, providing high quality social care services to adults experiencing mental ill-health. The core functions of the role will be to provide assessment, care planning and coordination of care from a social perspective to adults accessing the service. You will hold a caseload of adults experiencing a wide range of mental health and social care needs. You will ensure that you maintain constant reflection and development of your practice and will ensure your continuing professional development in line with the standards set out by the professional regulator, Social Work England.

About us: We have Social Workers who are also Practice Educators and ASYE assessors and are currently promoting this training. ELFT are currently part of a pilot programme for ASYE training of newly qualified social workers. ELFT and Central Bedfordshire Council offer training opportunities to support Social Workers to maintain their professional registration with Social Work England. We believe the natural progression for a Social Worker within Mental Health Services is to strive towards completing their Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) training and this is something that we will expect and you will be supported to do. We are proud to work with the diverse communities of Bedfordshire and want our workforce to reflect this diversity, which we believe is beneficial for our employees, the organisation and the communities we serve. It is an exciting time to be joining Mental Health Services as a Social Worker in ELFT and the Social Care Management team are committed to supporting your continued development.

Job responsibilities: In the role, you will liaise with acute inpatient units, the Crisis Team, Primary Care services, the Voluntary and Private Sector and contribute to providing a recovery focused model of care. You will play an active role in the discharge of our service users from hospital and will commission health and social care services as required. Partnership working is a key component of this post and you will need to be innovative in ensuring that there is a range of appropriate services locally to support individual recovery journeys.

Person specification:

• Experience
• Essential criteria: Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary environment/community experience. Experience of attending funding panels and commissioning care packages. Experience of working within an NHS/Local Authority environment and an understanding of the issues/policies/practice within these environments.
• Desirable criteria: Post-qualification experience within mental health services. Previous appointment as an AMHP/Best Interest Assessor (BIA). Social Workers are expected to train and practise as AMHPs.

• Knowledge/Skills
• Essential criteria: To undertake comprehensive Care Act assessments and reviews, for people who may present with complex Health and Social Care needs, ensuring people are assessed appropriately against social care eligibility criteria as defined by The Care Act 2014. To take a lead in the promotion of adult safeguarding practice and undertake safeguarding enquiries and contribute to the provision of care plans that protect both adults and children from abuse. To ensure that appropriate health and social care services are commissioned with and on behalf of service users. To promote the use of Direct Payments in the commissioning of service user and carer care and support plans. To undertake regular risk assessments and ensure that vulnerable people are kept safe from harm. To ensure accurate records of all work undertaken are kept up to date on the service users Electronic Patient Record. To attend reflective practice sessions and access post qualifying and other appropriate training to ensure high standards of practice and continuation of your registration with Social Work England. To provide both management and reflective supervision to newly qualified Social Workers and Support Workers. To support newly qualified social workers through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE), with opportunities to train as an ASYE assessor. To undertake duties as an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) or be willing to undertake AMHP training. To participate in your own regular supervision and ensure regular reflection on your own practice as both a social worker and AMHP. To undertake other tasks and duties which form part of the delegated social care responsibilities accepted by the Trust on behalf of Central Bedfordshire Council. To adhere to Trust policies and procedures. To undertake additional training as required. To carry out any other duties as appropriately identified by your line manager.
• Desirable criteria: A thorough working knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 and subsequent amendments.

• Additional Requirements
• Essential criteria: Car driver essential and be able to travel between Trust sites throughout the County. Full driving licence. Flexible working according to the needs of the service and to support work/life balance and improving working lives.

• Educational/Qualification
• Essential criteria: Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Desirable criteria: Educated to Degree Level. Relevant specialist post qualifying/post graduate training.

• Personal Qualities
• Essential criteria: Team player, able to negotiate and lead other professionals whilst considering competing views and agendas. Able to work independently, with initiative, but to seek appropriate guidance and supervision when required. Self-motivated, committed and open to new ideas and experiences. Committed to equal opportunities, and equality and diversity issues. Anti-discriminatory.