Clinical Specialist (Social Worker)

The C&I Early Intervention Service is in the process of an exciting expansion. Our ambition is to be a Gold Standard Service, faithful to the EIP model, capable of having a real impact on relapse rates, inpatient admissions and service user recovery in terms of social inclusion, maximising strengths and potential.

We would like to invite the most energetic, motivated and competent practitioners to join us in moving further towards this goal.

Main duties of the job

The successful post holder will act as care coordinator for a caseload of service users under CPA whilst contributing to the wider multi-disciplinary team approach from within their area of expertise in social work. Owing to the planned expansion, it is hoped the post holder will be free to dedicate time to occasional stand-alone profession-specific work on behalf of the wider team, according to need.

This post will ideally suit a social worker with experience of supporting individuals (and their families) with a psychotic illness in a community setting. The successful applicant will be encouraged to develop their leadership skills, supervise junior staff and will deputise for the Team Manager at times.

About us

The Islington Early Intervention Service is an innovative and forward-thinking team working with service users experiencing a First Episode of Psychosis (FEP).

Islington EIS is a well-established, multi-disciplinary team serving a culturally diverse London Borough. The team promotes a full symptomatic and social recovery, with an emphasis on assisting service users into valued education and occupation. The team also has a strong research ethic, with the team participating in several multi-Centre studies.

Job description
Job responsibilities

The service aims are:

- To offer early assessment, diagnosis and treatment of FEP.

- To offer person centred, individual, culturally sensitive care, with an emphasis on increasing stability, skill development and developing social roles.

- To maximize both symptomatic and social recovery after a first episode of psychosis through effective engagement with service users.

- To minimize the service users first experiences of service contact being disconcerting or stigmatizing.

- To support and educate carers, and involve them as fully as possible in service users care.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate a sound knowledge base ofhealth and psycho-social interventions for first episode psychosis clients. This post would suit applicants with prior experience in mental health wishing to develop their skills in a community setting. Team members benefit from a supportive team environment, with clinical supervision, peer support and training including the Early Intervention training programme. There is also the opportunity to contribute to the development and evaluation of a group programme for service users.