Job summary
- Main area
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Family Support Service
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 354-CO-21634-B
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hampshire, Kent and Sussex Provider Collaborative
- Town
- Arundel Road
- Salary
- £26,530 - £29,114 PA / Pro Rata for part time
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 11/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Family Ambassador
NHS AfC: Band 4
Come and join us
We're looking for people who share our values (compassion, accountability and optimism) to help us provide high quality care to the patients, carers, families and local communities we serve. We specialise in providing NHS mental health and learning disability services.
So what can we offer you in return?
We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.
You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.
As a Trust we are committed in making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.
If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.
Job overview
Suitable for those looking for flexible work in Winchester and Southampton.
Are you looking for a rewarding and varied role where you can really make a difference? We are looking for highly motivated individuals to join our team of Local Family Ambassadors.
This is an exciting opportunity to support the transformation of children and young people's specialist (Tier 4) inpatient and intensive community mental health services.
As a Family Ambassador you will ensure the needs and views of parents and families are heard and acted on. You will use your warmth, personal skills and ability to listen and communicate effectively to support families whose young person is accessing Tier 4 CAMHS services.
Young people being accepted for CAMHS Tier 4 support are likely to have already been assessed in the community as having significant and urgent needs that require specialised help. Tier 4 services are for those with the highest or most complex needs, therefore your role as a Family Ambassador will be a crucial support to families during an incredibly challenging time.
You will need to be positive, confident, engaging and compassionate, able to extend warm and welcoming invitations to parents, advocates and families whose young people are admitted to your designated Tier 4 inpatient units.
Main duties of the job
Main duties of the job
You will work with the Lead Family Ambassador and wider Provider Collaborative to achieve the following core objectives:
- Work with parents and families from admission to the unit to discharge.
- Help parents/families understand the inpatient system and processes – be a source for high quality information that is easy to understand.
- To work proactively with the allocated inpatient units. Supporting communication processes between the clinical unit and parents/families; enabling units to create a compassionate and responsive approach to parents, families and carers.
- Empower parents to access information and to be part of planning (with the young person's consent).
- Have knowledge and networks of the local area to support parents and families with information and signposting.
- To be a point of liaison with the Unit on family and carer matters, specifically quality improvement initiatives to enable more robust and inclusive engagement/parental involvement.
- Help parents raise concerns where necessary and take action to escalate those concerns if necessary.
- Use your lived experience to encourage clinical teams to embrace the value of involving lived experience in meaningful conversations at all levels.
For further information about the Family Ambassador role please click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrVQaAxyJE3dZ4BfCQcqwdhlxPYLxNqcx
Working for our organisation
Working hours / pattern
A number of full-time and part-time positions are available and we are looking for individuals to be based at the following Tier 4 CAMHS units:
- Austen House and Bluebird House (Southampton)
- Serenity Path (Winchester)
Family Ambassadors will be required to travel to their designated units, which will be allocated based on the needs of the service (taking into consideration the geographical location of where the Family Ambassador lives, wherever possible). It will also be possible to perform some of the role remotely from home.
PLEASE STATE ON YOUR APPLICATION FORM THE UNIT(S) THAT YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO TRAVEL TO.
We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, homeworking, part time hours, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen!
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached full Job Description and Person Specification.
Lived experience is an essential requirement for this role. This could be lived experience of supporting a child who has been in a CAMHS inpatient unit, or of supporting a child who has additional needs that require more specialist support from social care, school or other CAMHS services. Alternatively, you might have other related lived experience - perhaps of a family member who has required support and treatment across the Health, Social Care and/or Education system, or of a child who has been an inpatient for a physical health reason.
To undertake the Family Ambassador role, you must be comfortable sharing your lived experience and acting as a champion for the value of lived experience not only within the inpatient unit where they you assigned, but also amongst the wider provider collaborative team. Family Ambassadors need to encourage clinical teams to embrace the value of involving lived experience in meaningful conversations at all levels. There will be a full induction programme, training and infrastructure in place to support you around this.
Whatever your lived experience, most important is your ability to empathise and understand the widespread needs of the individual families who you will be supporting. You will need to communicate effectively with families to help them navigate through the often complex Tier 4 service in order to best support their young person.
You will need to show empathy, understanding, kindness and the ability to develop trust and rapport with families, professionals and the wider Collaborative team.
The Family Ambassador project has been developed in response to a range of recommendations from various reports identifying that the voice of parents and carers in their young person's pathway is often not heard and can be excluded from essential decisions.
Parents and carers have a unique perspective on the care needs of their young people and should be embraced as part of the decision-making team with the young person at the heart of the pathway. As a Family Ambassador you will enable parents and carers to be seen, heard and involved; subject to the appropriate consents of the young person.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to NVQ 4 level in a relevant subject or equivalent level of qualification or significant equivalent previous proven experience
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working as part of a team, engaging and supporting others in a team and receiving supervision and instruction.
- Understanding of Confidentiality and Data Protection Act.
- Has lived experience of a family member who has been in inpatient mental health or learning disability services or who has required support and treatment across the Health, Social Care and/or Education system (this might be a child who has been an inpatient for a physical health reason, or who has additional needs that require more specialist support from social care, school or other CAMHS services)
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable people and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lucy Morley
- Job title
- Lead Family Ambassador
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07909256461
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