Job summary
- Main area
- Forensic Services
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent: To be based at a community site in Lewisham in SE13 or SE8 initially with an intended move to Heather Close – Lewisham SE12 in May 2026
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Flexibility to work a shift pattern of 8am - 8pm across a 7-day service)
- Job ref
- 334-CLI-7321287
- Employer
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Lewisham
- Town
- Lewisham
- Salary
- £33,094 - £36,195 per annum inclusive of HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
B4 Senior Support Planner
NHS AfC: Band 4
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
community, collaboration with community partners and local voluntary care sector, inclusion, and peer support to transform lives? We’re launching an innovative community care centre inspired by world-class models like the Trieste Mental Health Community Network, Navigo in Grimsby, and Clubhouse models in New York and Brixton.
We have an incredibly exciting and rare opportunity to be part of a new community mental health pilot. This centre will hold a major national profile with NHS England who are hoping that the pilot will radically transform how we deliver mental health care in the UK.
We are looking for dedicated staff to help us pioneer this revolutionary approach to care.
What We Offer
· A Unique Care Model: Join a programme focused on community, social inclusion, and holistic recovery.
· Supportive Environment: Collaborate with peers, contribute to a recovery-oriented care system, and make a real difference.
· Development Opportunities: Be part of a pioneering team shaping the future of mental health care, with training and career growth built-in.
Main duties of the job
To provide support to adults using Community Mental Health services within the Lewisham Pilot who require a period of re-ablement, stabilisation or social inclusion. They will be working in a senior support planning role undertaking tasks as required as part of providing a high-quality service.
Support Planners will be based within the neighbourhood-based community mental health team which provide integrated health and social care. Their aim will be to provide direct support to services users to reach their full potential, to optimise and maintain their independence, and to exercise choice and control over the way that they live their lives.
Working for our organisation
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) offer the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
By coming to work at SLaM, you will gain experience of being part of an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To participate in the assessment of service users' mental, social and physical health needs. including risk assessment and early signs of relapse, promptly reporting observations to those in the team with responsibility for care.
2. To work in partnership with service-users, carers and more senior staff to identify goals and to develop self-directed support plans.
3. To identify and overcome barriers to achieving goals by providing practical time-limited support to service-users in the community to assist them to develop skills and to access available resources.
4. To take responsibility for in the planning and delivery of support in a way which promotes independence, recovery and social inclusion, including delivery of group interventions.
5. To support care coordinators and occupational therapists to review for ongoing care packages following a period of re-ablement and as part of the process of Self-Directed Support for those who are eligible for care packages and Personal Budgets. This may include delivering graded interventions in a persons home. To undertake assessment including Dialog and peoples level of function in the community and readiness to engage with community resources.
6. To deliver interventions for a designated caseload as agreed by the MDT within scope of practice
7. To contribute to regular reviews of progress against the service user's goals and to work with service users to revise goals as necessary.
8. Planning and Facilitation of groups/activities alongside the PSW's in the service including risk assessment
9. Proactive development of relationships with voluntary/non-statutory providers in the borough. Leading on process of information sharing and updating on what is support is available in community.
10. Monitoring attendance at community groups and clinical outcomes and initiating new ways of working with community groups.
11. To provide cover for other support planning staff within the service during periods of absence, ensuring junior support planners’ duties are completed where required.
12. To provide leadership for the day programme particularly out of hours.
13. Order and monitor stock, ensuring materials meet safety specifications as required to ensure a safe environment.
14. Assist with the induction of new support staff planners to the team
15. Provide supervision to junior support planners on a regular basis (monthly) where delegated and as appropriate, identifying training and development needs. To maintain full and appropriate signed written records of all supervision sessions
16. To address issues of poor performance in conjunction with the Business Manager in accordance with Trust Policy and Procedure.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- NVQ level 3 plus relevant experience Or NVQ level 4
- Good basic level of education with at least 5 GCSE grades A to C (or equivalent) including English and Mathematics
Experience
Essential criteria
- • Substantial Experience of working directly with mental health service-users in a care or support role or in the community sector. (I/A)
- • Evidence of Ability to work in a person-centred way when assisting service users to overcome barriers (A/I)
- • Experience of advocating for vulnerable people as and when necessary (A/I)
- • Ability to develop effective working partnerships with a variety of people including service users and team members (A/I)
- • Experience of leadership in terms of team work and taking on projects, working as part of team in a care or support setting (A/I)
- • Flexibility to work a shift pattern of 8am - 8pm across a 7-day service
- • Experience of working within an inner-city environment and working with a diverse population (A)
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of mental health systems and services locally and nationally (A/I)
- Lived Experience of advocating and supporting friends or family members facing mental health challenges.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
- • Excellent communication skills both verbal and written (A & T)
- • Awareness and understanding of the importance of maintaining confidentiality and data protection procedures (A & I)
- • Good IT & typing skills - Word, Excel, Email (A & I)
- • Understanding of the needs of people with mental health problems including a graded approach to recovery (I/A)
- • Good understanding of Equality and Diversity issues (I/A).
Desirable criteria
- • Knowledge of Recovery model (A/I)
- • Understanding of benefits system as it pertains to service users with mental health issues(A/I)
- • Experience of Self-Directed Support and/or personalised health or social care budgets (A/I)
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Kathryn Kelly
- Job title
- Occupational Therapist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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