Senior Psycho-social Support Worker

Job summary

An exciting opportunity for an experienced psycho-social support worker to develop skills in a specialist personality disorder service has arisen on Waddon Ward, River House.

Waddon Ward is a 15 bedded medium secure male only ward.

It is a specialist unit that admits those who have a significant violent and offending history as well as diagnosed with Personality Disorder.

Waddon Ward is part of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (OPD), jointly commissioned by NHS England and The National Probation Service.

The Violence Reduction Program is the main core treatment program on Waddon Ward which a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy psychological approach.

The post involves supporting the nursing team, taking on the associate nurse role for a small case load and leading the team of psycho-social support workers. You will have the opportunity to participate in the assessment of new patients and plan their treatment pathways.

You will receive training and supervision required for the role.The successful candidate must be committed to providing high quality patient care and have a demonstrated interested in working with offenders with personality disorder.

Main duties of the job

-Providing high quality psycho-social interventions to patients with personality disorder.
-Supervising junior staff.
-Participating in an ongoing programme of development and education for the multi professional team.
-Maintaining high quality standards on the ward.

Career Progression pathways and development opportunities:

We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development in risk assessment and therapies related to personality disorder, for example Mentalisation Based Therapy, Violence Reduction Programme.

About us

Flexible working:

As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. This role covers shifts across seven days per week, including day and night shifts.

Benefits:

We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It's important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

-Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
-Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
-Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
-Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
-Accommodation, our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites.

Job description

Job responsibilities

This position entails working with a demanding client group of personality disordered offenders. Therefore you will be given the opportunity and expected to attend regular participation in staff support, reflective practise and individual supervision

You must be able to physically respond efficiently and confidently to a crisis, i.e. be able to assist in the delivery of First aid, or employ PSTS techniques which you will have completed training in during your induction to the trust.

You will work under the direct and indirect supervision and guidance of the nursing team to implement care with a group of offenders with a diagnosis of Personality Disorder, maintaining their dignity, privacy and choice, treating them with respect at all times

Person Specification

Education/Qualification

Essential
-NVQ Level 3 in Health & Social Care or other equivalent qualification

Desirable
-Degree in Psychology
-Masters in Psychology

Experience/Knowledge

Essential
-Experience of working with people with mental health problems
-Experience of working as a HealthCare Assistant in Forensic Mental Health
-Experience of working with professionals from other agencies and services
-Ability to maintain professional boundaries in all interactions with service users
-Ability to undertake all mandatory training relevant to the post including Seni Lewis Training Program, basic life

Desirable
-Experience of co-facilitating groups or 1:1 therapeutic sessions
-Experience of working in a learning environment
-Experience supporting individuals who present with emotional distress, complex needs or challenging behaviour
-Willingness to participate in quality improvement, audit or service development initiatives.

Skills/Abilities

Essential
-Good written and verbal communication skills
-Basic IT skills
-Ability to work with a challenging client group, showing initiative and flexibility to team work and to care situations

Desirable
-Knowledge of skills that can be shared in team meetings

Other Criteria

Desirable
-Personal experience of mental health problems