Mental Health Support Worker

Job overview

We are looking for compassionate and adaptable Mental Health Support Workers, to join us in an exciting new opportunity to work as part of the Allocate on Arrival team based at St Anns Hospital, Poole. This team will work according to service need across our mental health wards and units; including Psychiatric Intensive Care Units, Adult and Older persons Acute Assessment and Treatment wards, and Health Based Place of Safety.

St Ann’s Hospital provides care and treatment to those experiencing acute episodes of mental illness and supporting patients through distressing and vulnerable time in their lives. All wards aim to promote a calm and therapeutic approach and environment where our patients are supported by friendly, skilled and enthusiastic teams to enable them to move forwards with their recovery. This role requires the experience, willingness and skills to work in different clinical wards and environments and take a positive approach in team working. Experience of supporting people with mental health and/ or learning disabilities is required. We are looking for people who can support patients in a calm and therapeutic manner, especially in difficult or distressing circumstances, in accordance with their care plans and under supervision of registered practitioners.

Full or part time hours available (minimum 22.5 hours per week) - this post requires shift working including nights, weekends and Bank Holidays.

Main duties of the job

• To work flexibly according to service and clinical need across the inpatient mental health wards and units.
• Take a positive approach to teamwork.
• Therapeutically observe and engage with patients in accordance with their care plan. Appropriately report and escalate to the registered member of staff on shift.
• Spend time listening to people with empathy and compassion, helping them to identify solutions to the problems they are facing and access resources that may enable their recovery.
• To ensure provision of privacy and dignity to all patients.
• To therapeutically engage and support patients in emotional regulation strategies during times of distress, and in de-escalation of aggression and conflict situations, in line with care plans, Trust policy and guidance of registered practitioners.
• To undertake and accurately record physical health monitoring and observations, and report/escalate as required to registered practitioner.
• You may be required to accompany patients outside of the hospital, or on occasion to work on another clinical site, this will be within your working hours and with any required transport arranged

You will be required to undertake a Prevention and Management of Violence and Aggression course, and it is a condition of your employment that you successfully complete all aspects of this course; if this is not achieved you will not be able to commence working in the post.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

We understand that using AI can be a useful and supportive tool when completing your application. However, we have also seen an increase in the over-reliance of AI tools which is negatively impacting applications as they remove candidate’s individuality, and it becomes much harder to get a sense of who you are and your authentic experience. If you do use AI, it should be used to enhance your application and not to create your supporting statement in its entirety. If we suspect you have used AI to create your supporting statement and this does not match your experience, we may withdraw your application.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact dhc.wideningparticipation@nhs.net

Employment in this post requires an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which the Trust will cover the cost of.

Please note visa sponsorship for this role is unfortunately not available. Please ensure you hold valid right to work in the UK and will not require sponsorship if successful.

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.