Job Information
Social Work Support Assistant - Full time (37 hrs), Permanent position
We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic Social Work Support Assistant to join our Mental Health Team in Central Northumberland.
If you are passionate about making a positive difference to adults with mental health needs, we would like to hear from you!
About the role:
At Northumberland County Council we are proud of our employees, who are passionate and committed to improving the lives of Adults within Northumberland ensuring they feel safe, healthy, happy and independent.
The recent restructure of our teams enables our community mental health Social Workers and Social Work Support Assistants to work more closely with related health services. Teams are now aligned with the Primary Care Networks, developed as part of the NHS long term plan and secondary care services. You will also work closely with Approved Mental Health Professionals, and Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Mental Health Trust.
Our vision is to develop the mental health Social Work and Social Work support role to be integrated with related health colleagues to deliver better outcomes for the people we support.
The successful applicant will work with service users over 18 years of age.
You will be responsible for completing needs assessments, taking into consideration safeguarding, continuing healthcare and promoting self-directed support. You will need to have a strong commitment to enabling and empowering service users to live independently in the community, with a focus on risk management and ensuring service users are protected from significant harm.
Acting as a key worker you will establish and manage care/therapeutic packages to reflect individual circumstances, while promoting and enabling independent functioning by thinking creatively about how this can be achieved in the service user’s best interests.
We are looking for someone who is committed to a person-centred approach to support vulnerable service users and their carers. You will need to be able to work well within a team and independently, have good time management skills and an ability to prioritise. You also need strong interpersonal, advocacy and communication skills, and IT skills, to be able to input, use and retrieve data and information.
The main responsibilities include:
- Managing and planning such work in an effective way to allow the required monitoring and review of the services delivered.
- Managing your own caseload, seeking guidance from your Line Manager as appropriate.
- Undertaking Carers’ Assessments as part of the care management process.
- Carrying out Risk Assessments as part of the care management process.
- Participating in the Duty System, taking and processing information and acting on it under supervision as required.
- Participating in discharge planning and care planning meetings.
- Ensuring all written and electronic records are maintained to organisational standards.
- Providing written reports, outcomes of assessments and recommendations.
- Advocating on behalf of service users.
Essential requirements:
- Experience of working with adults in a social care setting
- Knowledge of legislation relevant to mental health and adult social care
- Knowledge of and experience in working with people in mental health
- Due to the nature of this role, it is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving license and has access to a car.
For an informal discussion about these opportunities, please contact Aissa Rice, Team Manager on 07970790241/ aissa.rice@northumberland.gov.uk
or
Wendy Cherry, Team Manager on 07814629849/ Wendy.Cherry@northumberland.gov.uk
For further information please see the attached job description and person specification.
Why choose us?
We have some outstanding benefits to offer you, including:
- 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
- Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme
- Flexi scheme – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees)
- Local government discount schemes available to all employees with offers at local businesses along with various national brands
- Commitment to work/life balance offering flexibility through various schemes including job sharing, home working, flexible working, term-time only, and compressed hours
- Car leasing scheme
Further information
Please note the closing date is midnight on 12th November 2023.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. If you wish to notify us of your eligibility for this scheme, please email hrrecruitment@northumberland.gov.uk or ring 01670 623930 with your name and the job title you have applied for and one of the recruitment team will ensure this is factored into the shortlisting process and kept anonymous. If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like us to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to attend an interview, please also let the team know. This information will be treated as confidential and will only be used to check that you meet the essential requirements of the post.
Although we advertise on North East Jobs, and other websites, your application process will be directed to our Tribepad system. Please note that all communication regarding your application for this post will be sent to the email address that you have registered on Tribepad, including your invite to interview if you are shortlisted. Please check your emails regularly, including Spam/Junk, after the closing dates for notifications.
