Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To work as part of a care team to deliver evidence-based interventions to service users with mental health problems.

To develop and practice, working alongside registered clinicians, a set of therapeutic care skills, making a significant contribution to service users’ psychological, emotional and social wellbeing.

To ensure service users and their relatives receive care that prioritises safety, effectiveness, partnership and hope.

To promote and champion core care values by supporting junior, temporary and newly-appointed Healthcare Support Workers.

To deliver high quality care and recovery interventions for service users within designated clinical areas, in collaboration with, and under the indirect supervision of, registered care staff. These may include:

Supporting individuals with fluids and nutrition, physical wellbeing, and personal care.

Assisting service users with financial or accommodation issues.

Escorting or accompanying service users for planned periods of leave on hospital grounds and in the community facilitating social inclusion.

Encouraging service users to talk about their experiences in one-to-one or group discussions.

To help maintain a clean, well-organised, safe and therapeutic environment that meets the needs of service users, carers and colleagues, and to support registered care staff to perform standardised environmental assessments to monitor and improve the care setting.

To deliver psychosocially-informed one to one and group interventions aiming to positively impact service users’ cognitive and emotional wellbeing.

To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team. To assume lead or link roles on core practice initiatives and priorities (e.g. Essence of Care, Safewards and carer engagement) under the supervision of registered staff. To integrate areas of personal interest with clinical practice to enhance the diversity of the team’s provision of care.

To practise planned care, and to directly participate in the development of recovery-focused interventions that address service users’ and carers’ needs and preferences. To proactively review, record and assess the on-going impacts of such interventions.

To participate in the on-going care planning, CPA and risk assessment processes in collaboration with service users, their carers, and other members of the care team and to contribute to all aspects of clinical record keeping.

To maintain a basic working understanding of both the Mental Health Act (1983) and Mental Capacity Act (2005), and any other relevant legislation, as required by mandatory and statutory training

To adhere to AWP’s Code of Conduct for unregistered practitioners; promoting and embedding it through the delivery of peer support and supervision to junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers.

To observe and record interactions with service users and carers both verbally and in writing via clinical records and staff handovers.

To deliver a wide range of fundamental care interventions using evidence based clinical tools, to monitor and improve physical health and personal wellbeing and to model a high standard of dignity, respect and candour.

To engage in reflective practice to maintain and promote ongoing clinical practice.

To promote and enhance a positive learning culture, being proactive in the induction, orientation and support of junior, temporary and newly appointed Health Care Support Workers, seeking to embed core care values into practice