Support Worker

Title: Support Worker
Location: Portsmouth Mental Health Services
Salary: £16,944pa pro rata*
*Annual earnings based on a basic salary of £14,976 per annum and also include enhancements for weekend working and sleep-in shifts as part of a typical rota.
Contract Type: Permanent, Full Time and Part Time
To Start: As soon as possible

The organization is a registered charity that has been providing care, support and advice for over 30 years to vulnerable people across Hampshire and Dorset, giving them the tools and resources they need to live independent, secure and valued lives.

The Role
The essence of the Mental Health Support Worker role is listening to clients, understanding individuals, being someone to talk to about any issues and providing support and encouragement. As a Support Worker you will assist clients with organising their life tasks, using their preferred recovery style to make life choices, and achieve independence and ambitions.

Our clients have told us they want someone who is outgoing, jovial, funny and someone who they can have a laugh with. They will need you to attend appointments with them, or just be happy to go for a walk when they don't want to go out by themselves.

About You
* You will be trustworthy and reliable; doing what you say you will when you say you will do it.
* You are flexible and will adapt how you work to meet agreed targets.
* You are chatty, polite and clear in your communications, and will make sure that you can understand our clients.
* You are able to be guided by our clients to develop the skills they need to enable them to move on to a place of their choice, things such as cooking, cleaning, budgeting, shopping and self-medicating.
* You will have good listening skills, and will listen to our clients wishes for their plan of support, working with them to keep them safe and record all the relevant information.
* You will be proactive, supporting our clients by ensuring the relevant information to make informed choices.

The organization has a strong value base, striving to be person-centred, innovative, trustworthy, can-do and excellent at all times, so it is important that you are as passionate about these principles as we are.

Essential Requirements
The ideal Mental Health Support Worker will:
* Have knowledge of Health and Social Care Act 2008, CQC Essential Standards of Quality and Safety and CQC Core Principles
* Understand Health and Safety at Work Act/Regulations
* Have experience of working with vulnerable people
* Understand promoting independence
* Understand the importance of completing paperwork such as support plans and risk assessments
* Understand the needs of people with mental health
* Be prepared to support clients with daily living skills and personal care
* Have good communication skills: verbal, non-verbal and written
* Understand confidentiality and how this applies to clients
* Have basic numeracy and I.T. skills
* Be able to lone work or work as part of a team
* Be flexible and able to work shifts including evenings, weekends and bank holidays (and waking night shifts if required)
* Be prepared to work across other services in the cluster if required

Our Benefits
If you choose to begin a career with our organisation, you are guaranteed:
* Competitive rates of pay and paid travel time.
* Enhanced annual leave entitlements, sick pay allowances and pension scheme contributions.
* Excellent and professionally certified training.
* Real opportunities to develop in your profession.
* Free health and wellbeing advice via a 24/7, confidential Employee Assistance Programme.
* Everything you need to carry out your role free of charge, which may include a mobile phone, safety equipment and other necessary technology, a uniform where applicable, and of course a nice cup of tea or coffee throughout your day!
* Online 24/7 access to your personal rota.
* A company that is committed to its employees, valuing their knowledge, creativity and flexibility.
* The chance to work with amazing people.

If you think you have the skills to provide this service we can't wait to hear from you! Please click 'Apply' to forward your details on to us; please be sure to include your name, email address and contact telephone number. We will then contact you directly to discuss the role and ask you a few key questions to assess your suitability for this post.

If you are successful during this initial screening you will be invited to an assessment and interview, the date of which will be agreed at this point. Please note; we will select the first suitable applicants for assessment so don't delay, apply today!