Specialist Mental Health Personal Advisor (Social Worker)

Specialist Mental Health Personal Advisor – Social Worker
£38,133 – £49,503 per annum (PO2 – PO3)
Permanent, Full Time (36 hours)
Ofsted Rating: ‘Good'

Are you a qualified Social Worker specialising in children’s mental health? The Wandsworth Leaving Care Team support over 440 young people aged 16-25 who have been in the care of Wandsworth Borough Council. As part of a dedicated, vibrant, and enthusiastic team of 36 professionals, your role will be to help young people build stable and successful independent lives. To achieve this, you will support them to access housing, education / employment, health, leisure activities, stable relationships and other support networks. Can you help these young people who face challenges with their mental health to build bright futures for themselves?

Watch the video below where Skyy shares her story and experience with the service and what she is looking for in a Specialist Mental Health Personal Advisor:

About the role:

Experience: Do you have proven experience managing challenging adolescent behaviours, and engaging hard-to-reach young people with mental health issues who have previously been Looked After?

Regulatory Compliance: You will undertake outreach and in-office work with young people while demonstrating good knowledge of key legislation including Leaving Care Act 2000 and Social Work Act 2017. 

Caseload Management: You will be the allocated Personal Advisor for 15 young people who have moderate to acute mental health issues. 

Pathway Plans: You will support young people on your caseload to develop a robust and detailed Pathway Plan that helps them achieve their goals. You will spend every day supporting young people to achieve their Pathway Plan goals, which will include some group activities and individual work.

Emotional Wellbeing / Mental Health: Alongside the Therapeutic Service and the Transitions Social Worker within the team, you will be sharing good practice, liaising with Mental Health Services in the community and offering direct work which builds and strengthens Young People’s Emotional wellbeing and positive mental health.

Multidisciplinary Team: You will work alongside allocated Adult’s Social Care Social Worker / Care Coordinators, to support young people achieving stability and engaging in appropriate mental health services and support.

Last year over 13% of young people supported by the service went to university – can you help more young people to achieve similar outcomes? 

Qualifications and Skills:

• Qualified Social Worker with experience of working with the Care Act 2014 and within Adult Mental Health Services.
• Effective oral and written communication skills, including formal report writing.
• Ability to handle challenges and own workload with the commitment to achieve positive outcomes.
• Proven experience in carrying out assessments, including risk assessments, collecting, and analysing all relevant information and following guidance.
• Maintaining accurate and up to date children’s case records in compliance with Council procedures and quality standards while meeting deadlines.

If you are a motivated and dynamic innovator who is committed to anti-discriminatory practice and want to play a central role in achieving positive outcomes for young people in Wandsworth, we invite you to apply for this opportunity.  

Benefits:

At Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, we care more about how you work and what you achieve, rather than where you work on any given day. The difference you can make to our local communities is what really matters most to us, service delivery must always come first. We have carefully considered agile ways of working to provide the best experience for residents, stakeholders and our staff. Our agile working strategy actively supports and encourages a dynamic work environment and daily working experience. Agile working helps put the needs of our staff at the centre of everything we do, so if specific flexible working arrangements helps you with this, feel free to let us know. 

Your wellbeing and the flexible way in which you can work is and will remain a key priority for Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. We want you to thrive and feel empowered in your work!

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore. We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 40 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. 

In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

Closing Date: 11:59pm Tuesday 13th February 2024

Shortlisting Date: Wednesday 14th February 2024

Interview Date: Week commencing 19th February 2024

Useful Information:

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible.

We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams, including males.    

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information:

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).