Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity for two experienced Social Workers to join the existing CAMHS Crisis Service and the Intensive Community Care Service (ICCS) in an embedded role within East London NHS Foundation Trust.
The post holders will play an integral role providing the following to support to children, young people and families known to ICCS as well as children and young people presenting in mental health Crisis to the East London Acute Hospitals.
Contribute to the multi-disciplinary assessment and intervention for children, young people and their families. Provide multi-disciplinary support including assessment, diagnosis and treatment to CYP with serious mental illness where inpatient admission would otherwise be required or as part of supported discharge Interventions and support provided by ICCS may be up for up to 12 weeks and include individual work, family work, psychiatric assessment, medication management, psycho-education, work on activities of daily living, multi-agency liaison, collaborative care planning, facilitated integration into community resources - as close to home as possible whilst interventions provided at Crisis are expected to be shorter.
Empower children and young people to recover from mental health crisis
Work collaboratively with professionals across health and social care to improve joint working and promote shared understanding of roles and responsibilities, to better support children and young people in mental health crisis
Main duties of the job
- To effectively triage and accept referrals to the service, liaising with other professionals and providing initial advice as appropriate.
- To provide comprehensive mental health and risk assessments of children, young people and their families/carers referred in crisis.
- To manage risk by putting in place care plans, safety & coping plans and other risk interventions in a variety of settings, e.g. at home, in the community or in hospital settings
- To provide brief evidence-based crisis interventions to children, young people and families referred to the service, that aim to prevent the need for admission or facilitate safe early discharge from inpatient mental health wards or acute services – including individual and group work
- To engage in assertive outreach work with children/young people and their families where appropriate and inreach work where children/ young people are admitted
- Based on assessments and reports convey sensitive, complex and sometimes unwelcome information to patients and other professionals about risks, both verbally and in written form, and manage this as constructively as possible.
- To liaise with and where appropriate participate in joint work with other members of ICCS or other CAMHS clinicians.
- To liaise with the child, young person and families’ professional network, keeping them informed of developments, changes in risk status and promoting multiagency collaboration.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To offer and provide a liaison and consultation service to multi agency partners working with children, young people and their families/carers including advice to professionals in creating management plans for children and young people presenting with in crisis and/or complex and severe mental health problems.
- To act as care coordinator for an identified caseload and to be responsible for the coordination of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of therapeutic packages of care provided by ICCS.
- To manage a clinical caseload independently within appropriate clinical/professional guidelines and to seek consultation where necessary with the relevant line manager and lead clinicians of specialist teams.
- To act as a care coordinator in accordance with CPA guidelines within the CAMHS community setting.
- To provide packages of care, group-work and psychoeducation for the young people and their families/ carers that takes account of the complexities of family systems and their significant social networks.
- To ensure that the needs of the client group is paramount, and to and adhere to local community and hospital guidelines relating to Safeguarding and Child Protection.
- To ensure acceptable levels of safety (regarding potential verbal and physical aggression from disturbed clients) for self and to advise other colleagues when necessary.
- To adhere to the “lone worker policy “and update training in breakaway techniques when necessary.
- To work jointly and collaboratively with other team members in order to enhance and develop work with families by providing highly specialist knowledge and skills.
- To be responsible for developing and maintaining knowledge of local resources and developing working relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations.