Children & Family Social Worker

At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.

Nearly 3,200 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 900+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.

We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us!

We will consider flexible working arrangements for our roles, please indicate in your application if this is something you require

If you would like to view our Employee Handbook, please follow the link provided under 'Further links'.

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION
Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.

YOUR APPLICATION
It is important that you complete a formal application form as CV’s alone will not be accepted.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.

Job overview
“I love working in CAIST for the difference we can make in a young person’s and their family/carer’s life, through their most difficult times.” Come and join our award winning team!

Is your passion working creatively with children and families? Looking for a role with flexible working opportunities?

We are excited to offer an opportunity to join our Award Winning Under 18’s Crisis Service as a Children & Family Social Worker supporting young people and their families across Norfolk and Waveney.

We have bases in East, Central & West Norfolk; we allocate a base closest to where you live. The role is peripatetic so on occasion you may need to travel to different sites, so being able to travel independently is essential.

The CAIST (Crisis, Assessment & Intensive Support Team) service is a vibrant and dynamic service that has 3 teams based across Norfolk & Waveney and currently offers an 08.00 to 20.00 service, 7 days a week.

The team offers community based intensive support to children, young people & their families. CAIST aim to establish trusting therapeutic relationships, to reduce risks when children & young people may be experiencing high levels of distress.

When you join CAIST, you can expect your role to be varied and diverse – no two days are ever the same!

Main duties of the job
Don’t just take our word for it, hear what one of the team said about working with us:

“The team consists of a variety of great individuals from all backgrounds and skills, who feel passionately about supporting young people and what we do; this is demonstrated in the hard work and passion for the job.

Despite being challenging at times, working within the CAIST team is incredibly rewarding. Skill development and progression is encouraged to continually evolve and expand the service and I feel proud to be a part of such an amazing team.”

Whilst experience in working with children and young people would make you perfectly suited to this role, we are really open to welcoming people from clinical backgrounds who have experience in other areas of mental health. We understand that you will be able to bring with you a wealth of skills and experience to the team and would welcome new ways of thinking.

We are looking for people to join us with enthusiasm, optimism, fresh ideas and energy. We will expect you to want to work clinically but be equally as comfortable being part of strategic decision making.

We would love to hear from you if you have experience in working with people who suffer with mental health difficulties, and you have at least 12 months post qualification experience in a mental health setting or similar.

Working for our organisation
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established nursing networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We want you in our team if you share our values and core beliefs. If you want to work in an environment of mutual respect, transparency, integrity and collaborative working we are the team for you.

Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.

This post attracts a recruitment premium of £3,000 (pro-rata for part time roles). This is a one off payment with half paid on appointment and half paid after the completion of a satisfactory probation period (6 months). The premium is taxable. Please note that should you leave employment, or choose to move to an alternative post within the Trust that does not attract this recruitment premium, you will be required to reimburse all or some it, as follows: 100% of the value of the premium in the first 12 months; 50% of the value of the premium in the period 12 months to 2 years following appointment.

Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria

- Social Work degree or equivalent, Dip OT, Clinical Psychology or equivalent

Experience
Essential criteria

- Able to demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge of mental health practice from previous experience
- Demonstrate effective risk assessment and risk management experience
- Experience in the delivery of clinical interventions

Desirable criteria

- Experience in supporting service development

Knowledge
Essential criteria

- Knowledge of psychosocial interventions
- An understanding of the policies and guidelines both local and national e.g. National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidelines (Government initiative)
Desirable criteria

Developing knowledge of local wider systems and networks
Other

Essential criteria

- Ability to travel independently

Skills
Essential criteria

- Basic computer skills including use of email/internet
- Risk assessment knowledge and skills