Community Engagement Worker (Getting Help)

To provide social and practical support to adults with common mental health conditions both virtually and in community settings across Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale (HMR), including assessment and support planning, and community outreach. This may include working with adults that are already in therapy, are awaiting therapy or have recently completed therapy either within Thinking Ahead, or in some cases externally.

To be a key member of Gaddum’s provision of the Getting Help element of Thinking Ahead (the central adult Primary Care Mental Health Pathway in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, in partnership with Big Life Group and Pennine Care NHS Trust).

Job Purpose

You will work within a multidisciplinary pathway and carry a case load providing 1:1 support across community venues within HMR, creating support plans for individuals accessing Getting Help. This will include social prescribing, signposting and onward referrals, as well as supporting individuals to overcome barriers which are impacting on their health and wellbeing. 

You will facilitate regular drop-in sessions in the community in order to promote and facilitate new referrals to the service as well as providing face to face advice and guidance to the public. You will use your knowledge of services in HMR to connect people with the right support for their needs.

The role will include collaborative work with the partner organisations within Getting Help, our partners within Thinking Ahead, and other organisations providing support to our client groups across HMR. This includes working within the community neighbourhood teams to improve joined up working across the borough. The role may also occasionally include facilitating group work – and, very occasionally, evening and weekend working to suit business needs. 

Key Responsibilities 

·       To provide 1:1 support for social welfare issues which are impacting on the service users’ mental well-being (e.g. housing, finances, employment etc.).

·       To maintain up to date knowledge of local and national support services, provide effective signposting and onward referrals, and to remove barriers to engagement with other services.

·       To facilitate regular drop-in sessions within the community, to promote the service to professionals and service users, to encourage referrals to Getting Help and Thinking Ahead and provide immediate information and advice to people.

·       To work collaboratively with service users in 1:1 sessions to understand their presenting issues and goals and create personalised support plans which help meet short-term needs and long-term goals.

·       To motivate and encourage service users to build independence and resilience for the future.

·       To ensure that case records are appropriately maintained and updated using relevant CRM systems, in line with Thinking Ahead and Gaddum guidelines and policies.

·       To participate in events within the community, and to actively promote increased access to Getting Help and the wider Thinking Ahead pathway.

·       To build and maintain collaborative working relationships with Getting Help partners, and colleagues within the Thinking Ahead partnership.

·       To build and maintain relationships with external organisations, with the aim of creating practical support plans for service users and increasing access to services across HMR.

·       To actively participate in supervision, and to ensure that client work is conducted within the policies and procedures set by Gaddum and Thinking Ahead.

·       To support and work with the Getting Help Team Leader and the team to drive continuous improvements to service delivery.

·       To provide monitoring information in relation to agreed monthly targets.

·       To assist in the development of the Getting Help element of the pathway, which includes working with other VCSE organisations to enhance the wellbeing and resilience of their service users.

Organisational Responsibilities

·       To actively engage in ongoing personal and professional development, making full use of supervision, appraisal and learning opportunities.

·       To act at all times to promote equality and diversity ensuring inclusive and integrated services.

·       To seek advice, support and guidance as required

·       To maintain a general understanding of the work of the whole organisation and attend team meetings/events.

·       To adopt a flexible approach to working patterns to suit the needs of the role and responsibilities as required.

The details contained in this job description, particularly the principal accountabilities, reflect the content of the job at the date the job description was prepared.  It should be remembered, however, that it is inevitable that over time, the nature of individual jobs will change; existing duties may be lost and other duties may be gained without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed.  Consequently, this job description may be revised from time to time.