Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for skilled and enthusiastic Community Mental Health Link Worker within the North MINT team in Hammersmith & Fulham.
We are seeking to recruit a passionate and experienced individual with a good understanding of mental illness and young people (16 to 25), as well as excellent communication, personal, and customer service skills, who have a desire to empower and support young individuals with their connections to their local community and their overall recovery journey. We are looking for highly motivated, enthusiastic, and caring individuals who can provide the best possible care with patience and compassion to our clients.
The Link Worker role is aimed at actively supporting an individual to choose and engage with opportunities of meaningful activity, as part of improving their mental health and wellbeing.
Link Workers do this through developing collaborative, short term goals, and offering practical skills and support to connect an individual to services and facilities in their local community.
Main duties of the job
You will play a vital role in connecting people who are experiencing a challenge with their mental health with community supports and resources. As a Link Worker you will specialise in signposting to and supporting with referrals to identified appropriate community resources, fostering autonomy and promoting independence, building on the individual's strengths and aiding in gaining skills and confidence in collaboratively identified areas of support, as well as escalating concerns should they arise.
You will be comfortable working both on your own and with others from a range of different backgrounds. You'll need to be resilient, motivated, and committed to adapt to working in an ever-changing environment.
About us
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.
Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.
We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.
We'rerated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.
We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The role involves providing support to clients referred by GPs to the Mental Health Integrated Network Team (MINT), to access locally-based community services, to aid their mental health recovery and encourage meaningful engagement within their local community.
The role also involves carrying out brief assessments with prospective clients who have been identified as requiring support from our service, signposting to agreed and appropriate community resources, making additional referrals, escalating any identified safety or safeguarding concerns appropriately, and feeding back as necessary to the wider team.
A key part of the role is to develop a live register of assets in the community that could be useful to people on the caseload who would benefit and to work with other post- holders on a system-wide asset-based register, as well as fostering strong relationships and keeping the lines of communication open with our community partners.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The role involves providing support to clients referred by GPs to the Mental Health Integrated Network Team (MINT), to access locally-based community services, to aid their mental health recovery and encourage meaningful engagement within their local community.
The role also involves carrying out brief assessments with prospective clients who have been identified as requiring support from our service, signposting to agreed and appropriate community resources, making additional referrals, escalating any identified safety or safeguarding concerns appropriately, and feeding back as necessary to the wider team.
A key part of the role is to develop a live register of assets in the community that could be useful to people on the caseload who would benefit and to work with other post- holders on a system-wide asset-based register, as well as fostering strong relationships and keeping the lines of communication open with our community partners.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential
- Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development appropriate to the role in order to ensure competency and the execution of best clinical practice.
Desirable
- NVQ level 3 or working towards an equivalent qualification in a relevant subject area or demonstrable equivalent experience.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of 1:1 client work
- Experience of working or volunteering in mental health services
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across organisations
Desirable
- Experience of working alongside or supervising volunteers
- Experience of working in a community development context or similar
Knowledge
Essential
- Knowledge of the local community
- A good broad understanding of mental health challenges
- A good awareness of different models of understanding of mental health
- A good awareness of current issues in policy and practice in mental health
- A good understanding of primary, secondary care and third sector mental health services
- Thorough understanding of co-production and recovery principles
- Thorough understanding of the principles of good customer service
- Thorough understanding of good practice in person-centred client work
- Thorough understanding of equal opportunities with particular emphasis on how it applies to users of mental health services
- An understanding of the principles of good partnership working
- Good level of computer skills with knowledge of Word and Excel and ability to input information, use an email system and produce simple plans/reports
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to listen, empathise and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way
- Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to take responsibility for key clients
- Ability to produce written materials to a high standard, including assessments and minutes of meetings
- Ability to communicate constructively and professionally with service users, staff, colleagues and external agencies
- Ability to organise, plan and prioritise workload on own initiative
- Ability to work flexibly and cooperatively, balancing multiple responsibilities
- Ability to handle formal and informal disputes and complaints constructively
- Ability to manage your own stress in a busy and demanding environment
- Ability to work independently and to utilise support effectively
- Ability to work at evenings and weekends, sometimes at short notice, when required to meet work demands
- Ability to implement equal opportunities through anti-discriminatory practice
- Strengths-based recovery approach to client work and person centred practice
- Ability to maintain confidentiality
- Ability to demonstrate personal accountability for your work to your manager
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential
- Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development appropriate to the role in order to ensure competency and the execution of best clinical practice.
Desirable
- NVQ level 3 or working towards an equivalent qualification in a relevant subject area or demonstrable equivalent experience.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of 1:1 client work
- Experience of working or volunteering in mental health services
- Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across organisations
Desirable
- Experience of working alongside or supervising volunteers
- Experience of working in a community development context or similar
Knowledge
Essential
- Knowledge of the local community
- A good broad understanding of mental health challenges
- A good awareness of different models of understanding of mental health
- A good awareness of current issues in policy and practice in mental health
- A good understanding of primary, secondary care and third sector mental health services
- Thorough understanding of co-production and recovery principles
- Thorough understanding of the principles of good customer service
- Thorough understanding of good practice in person-centred client work
- Thorough understanding of equal opportunities with particular emphasis on how it applies to users of mental health services
- An understanding of the principles of good partnership working
- Good level of computer skills with knowledge of Word and Excel and ability to input information, use an email system and produce simple plans/reports
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Ability to listen, empathise and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way
- Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to take responsibility for key clients
- Ability to produce written materials to a high standard, including assessments and minutes of meetings
- Ability to communicate constructively and professionally with service users, staff, colleagues and external agencies
- Ability to organise, plan and prioritise workload on own initiative
- Ability to work flexibly and cooperatively, balancing multiple responsibilities
- Ability to handle formal and informal disputes and complaints constructively
- Ability to manage your own stress in a busy and demanding environment
- Ability to work independently and to utilise support effectively
- Ability to work at evenings and weekends, sometimes at short notice, when required to meet work demands
- Ability to implement equal opportunities through anti-discriminatory practice
- Strengths-based recovery approach to client work and person centred practice
- Ability to maintain confidentiality
- Ability to demonstrate personal accountability for your work to your manager
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
