Mental Health Support Worker
We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us.We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Job overview
We have Band 3 Mental Health Support Worker opportunities across our mental health urgent care services in the following teams:
Health Based places of Safety working in our dedicated places of safety to support individuals in crisis detained by Police under s136 MHA. Our current Suites are at Hollins Park and Clockview Hospitals, with more planned in the next 12 months.
MHCAS This is an exciting opportunity for Support Workers to come and join our brand new Crisis Assessment Service based in the Mere Suite at Hartley Hospital, Southport
You will work alongside a multidisciplinary team providing an extended assessment, with the aim being to support service users in the least restrictive environment
This service is part of the wider Mental Health Triage and Response service, alongside our dedicated health based places of safety (awarded the Seni Lewis award at the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards) and the Street Triage cars (awarded the2022 NHS parliamentary award for Urgent and Emergency Care).
Main duties of the job
The role of the Support Worker within the Crisis Assessment Service and Mental Health Triage and Response Team will include providing a response to the management of service users detained under Section 136 MHA and the operating of the identified Places of Safety and Crisis Assessment Service
You will be the first point of contact and work collaboratively along side the Registered Mental Health Practitioner and also with Police forces, NWAS, Local Authorities, Acute Trust colleagues and Mental Health Services.
The Mental Health Triage and Response Team and MHCAS will support service users presenting in crisis and ensure that their needs are met within the identified places of safety and assist with a timely assessment and safety planning.
You will need to demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate, problem solve, recognise risk and be able to effectively support the service user.
The role of the Support Worker within the Mental Health Triage and Response Team includes mobilising to support service users from the point of detention under Section 136 through the process of co-ordination, observation, assessment and support within the identified Places of Safety.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together.We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description for detailed job description and responsibilities.
Please note - interviews will take place in person, we are not able to offer remote/virtual interviews (i.e. Microsoft Teams).
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Health and Social Care Level 2 qualification or equivalent experience
- Care Certificate
- Phlebotomy trained
- Physical Health competency basic passport
- MEWS
- Level 2 Smoking Cessation
- Good standard of education
- Qualification in craft, domestic skills, leisure or health equivalent to City & Guild Part 1, or 2 year experience working in a health setting
- Willing to work towards Level 3 Health Care qualification
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working in a care setting
- Understanding of issues of confidentiality
- Experience of individuals with mental health problems or personal lived experience of mental health problems
Values
Essential criteria- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential criteria- Able to communicate effectively
- Ability to work as a member of a team
- Ability to demonstrate a nonjudgemental attitude
- Ability to work on own initiative under the supervision of a qualified practitioner
- Ability to provide support and guidance to junior staff
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.
Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.
Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email [email protected] to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.
We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.
The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team (01516761452 or email [email protected]) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form.The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed.
Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.
Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.