Job summary
- Main area
- Dual Diagnosis Recovery Worker (Co-occurring Substance Use and Mental Health)
- Grade
- Band 5
- Contract
- Fixed term: 2 years (amended to FT 2 yrs as COS needed)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)
- Job ref
- 455-NLFT-0346
- Employer
- North London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- St Ann's hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £35,763 - £43,466 Per annum including HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Dual Diagnosis Recovery Worker
Band 5
Thank you for your interest in the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT). This is an exciting time to join us and be part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:
- Collaborate at every level by living our values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
- Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
- Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
- Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
- Ensure that research, quality improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
- Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do
We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.
The North London Way to deliver: Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.
Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for suitably qualified individuals to join our established and highly energetic dual diagnosis team in Haringey, as a Dual Diagnosis Recovery Worker on a permanent basis. The service comprises clinical and psychosocial elements of substance misuse treatment which will be delivered within an exciting new model of delivery focused upon recovery and underpinned by a key working system based upon a variety of skills around structured psychosocial and recovery consistent packages of care.
The Dual Diagnosis Network is a specialist Tier 3 treatment service working with service users who have complex mental health and concurrent drug and alcohol problems. Dual Diagnosis Recovery workers are embedded into local mental health (acute/community) services and can be accessed at those services.
Main duties of the job
The post holder should be enthusiastic and experienced in key working individuals having problems with substance misuse. Experience of working with individuals presenting concomitant substance misuse and mental health problems is a bonus. You will be responsible for devising and implementing packages of care for clients with dual diagnosis presentations in a variety of mental health teams (Acute/inpatient and Community), under the guidance and supervision of the Senior Practitioner and oversight of the DDN Operational Manager.
Working for our organisation
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy:
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We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
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With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
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We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
Why NLFT?
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We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
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We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
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NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
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Excellent internal staff network
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will take a lead in developing and delivering dual diagnosis services, ensuring that high quality services are delivered to service users with a dual diagnosis. The post holder will act as a specialist resource to mental health and substance misuse teams, in statutory and voluntary sectors. The post holder will be responsible for undertaking substance misuse triage of service users, implementing and managing complex management plans in joint partnership with other teams in Haringey ensuring that effective and responsive plans are in place. The post holder will assist the Team Manager and Dual Diagnosis Network (DDN) team to develop and maintain high quality standards of care.
For more details please see Job Description.
Person specification
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
Essential criteria
- Possession of an appropriate qualification or relevant experience and can demonstrate its relevance to this role i.e. the National Diploma Level 3 in Substance Misuse and/or a minimum of two years’ experience in the field of addictions
Desirable criteria
- Experienced in the use of ITEP or other psychosocial interventions such as addictions counselling or Motivational Interviewing
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Essential criteria
- Recent and relevant experience of working with clients experiencing issues with substance misuse
- Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
- Experience of assessment of people with substance misuse and related problems
Desirable criteria
- Some knowledge of working in liaison with GPs
- Experience of working in community settings
- Experience of working in dual diagnosis service
- Experience in case/care management for vulnerable and complex mental health and substance misuse problems
- Evidence of working with complex mental health and substance misuse service users within in-patient and/or community settings
- Able to apply advanced understanding of physical, psychological and social needs of complex mental health and substance mis-users – dual diagnosis
- Experience in contributing to multi agency case/care management plans for service users with dual diagnosis presentations
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Essential criteria
- Ability to work independently if necessary and as part of a team, coupled with the ability to share skills
- An understanding of the principles and practice of harm minimisation. A commitment to working within the harm reduction model of practice
- The ability to conduct a strengths based assessment eliciting a client’s recovery capital
- An awareness of the physical, psychological and social needs of substance misusers
- A commitment to obtain an understanding of the theories and practices of safeguarding procedures for children and vulnerable adults
- Ability to establish working therapeutic relationships and maintain professional boundaries
- Ability to work with stable drug users in a low threshold support setting
- Basic knowledge of blood borne infection (BBV) and their impact on this client group
- An understanding and knowledge of the main psychoactive drugs used by this client group, their effects and current treatments
- Ability to manage challenging behaviour/ crisis intervention
- Ability to work in sometimes highly distressing and emotional circumstances
- Willingness to handle body fluids, eg urine screening and body fluid spillages
- Ability to design training programmes, educating others about substance use, health and social well-being in formal and informal settings
- Good communication skills, both verbal and written. To be able to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing
- Experience of using word processing and database, as well as a willingness to improve existing skills
Desirable criteria
- An understanding of Public Health directives and their impact on service delivery
- Experience of using electronic case management systems
- Awareness of the Recovery Model
- Evidence of applying working knowledge of complex interactions in mental health and substance misuse
- Able to formulate assessment, risk and care management of dual diagnosis service users
- Evidence of ability to develop, sustain and provide support to individuals with drug, alcohol and mental health needs
- Evidence of knowledge and application of Mental Health Act
- Evidence of knowledge of good practice guidelines on Dual Diagnosis and implications on service delivery
- Able to develop and maintain professional and service user relationships across multiple Hospital and Community settings
OTHER REQUIREMENTS
Essential criteria
- The ability to understand and implement Equal Opportunities Policy, at a level appropriate to the job
- A non-judgemental approach to drug use and drug users
- Willingness to deliver services in partner agencies and across multiple sites within the Trust
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
- Helen Kyriakidou
- Job title
- Operational Manager - DDN
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0208 21 37561
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