Support Worker Eating Disorders (EDIP)

Job responsibilities

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing care to children, young people, and families in the community.

Undertake supervised clinical work supporting children and young people toward their recovery goals.

Offer home, clinic-based, and hospital-based meal support for young people with eating disorders, modeling appropriate support for parents/carers.

Assist service users in identifying their strengths, personal interests, and recovery goals while promoting acceptance and respect for their personal beliefs, uniqueness, and identity.

Promote recovery by supporting young people in accessing community activities, education, and support networks.

Assist, under supervision, with physical health monitoring of young people on the CEDS Intensive Pathway.

Assist, under supervision, with the delivery of NG feeding in the community where appropriate (non-restrained).

Support the team in intensive outreach work to manage risk and provide an alternative to hospital admission for severely unwell young people.

Provide psychosocial interventions including distress tolerance, emotion regulation (DBT techniques), basic CBT strategies, psycho-education, motivational exercises, distraction activities, symptom management, problem-solving skills, and support for young people with learning disabilities.

Support the development and delivery of community-based phlebotomy services.

Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate patient care plans related to physical health needs, aligned with the overall CEDS care plan.

Manage challenging, distressing, and sensitive situations with therapeutic skills to engage patients and families safely and effectively.

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential

• NVQ Level II (or equivalent) in Health and Social Care, Care Certificate, or other relevant care qualification.
• Good standard of education with proven literacy and numeracy skills.

Desirable

• European Computer Driving License (ECDL)
• Training in phlebotomy, taking physical health measurements, or equivalent clinical skills (to assist with medical monitoring tasks).
• research experience in health, psychology, eating disorders, or a closely related discipline

Experience

Essential

• Previous experience working in mental health services
• Positive attitude towards working with people with mental health problems
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of equality and diversity issues and the ability to integrate into employment policies and practices

Desirable

• Experience of supporting young people experiencing episodes of heightened stress/distress
• involvement in qualitative data collection (e.g., interviews with young people, families, clinicians), data analysis, and writing up research findings relevant to eating disorders or mental health.
• Experience in managing qualitative data, particularly within sensitive topics such as eating disorders and mental health.
• Experience in recruiting children, young people, and families to research studies, ideally in sensitive areas such as eating disorders or mental health.
• Experience contributing to the publication of research findings in peer-reviewed journals

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Knowledge of / familiarity with services for children and young people with eating disorders and/or mental health difficulties, including working with their families and carers, OR experience of health service research in these areas.
• Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and written
• Ability to work independently
• Ability to organise and prioritise workloads Enthusiastic and non-judgmental
• Excellent communication and listening skills with the ability to tailor the message to a variety of audiences

Desirable

• Competency in phlebotomy and undertaking ECGs
• Creative skills or interests that could benefit therapeutic or engagement activities (e.g. art, music, cooking, sports), which can be utilized in supporting young people or in designing participation sessions.

Personal and people development

Essential

• Able to work independently and seek support where appropriate
• Able to use supervision well to improve output
• Able to contain and work with organisational stress, and able to hold the stress of others.
• High motivation to working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Positive attitude and ability to work under pressure, be adaptable and able to working in unpredictable situations
• Takes responsibility for own learning
• Responsible for own Individual Performance Review
• Follows policies and practice protocols, and is able to comment and propose changes to these
• Respectful approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals. Willing to negotiate and can handle confrontation effectively and professionally.
• Must be able to exert light physical effort, moving between rooms, carrying out physical assessments, and travelling between spoke areas independently, to sit in constrained positions for a substantial proportion of working time.
• Able to concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc

Desirable

• Can supervise the work of more junior staff and students, and provides training to others

Communication

Essential

• Communicates in a manner that is consistent with relevant legislation, policies and procedures.
• Communicates with people in a form and manner that: Is consistent with their level of understanding, culture, background and preferred ways of communicating.
• Recognises and reflects on barriers to effective communication and actively modifies communication in response to these.
• Aware of the potential impact of discrimination and disadvantage on mental health
• Takes a proactive role in producing accurate and complete documentation

Desirable

• Provides feedback to other workers on their communication at appropriate times

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).