Senior Practitioner - Mental Health 18+ Care Leavers Service

Role Responsibility

This service has a vacancy for a Mental Health Social Workers to join the service working from our office in Dover, alongside another post in our West Malling base. This Service was rated as “Outstanding” at its last Ofsted inspection and is continually looking at ways to improve further and this is an exciting opportunity to join us in our journey of improvement and innovation.

• Do you have what it takes to build positive and beneficial relationships with young individuals?
• Would you like to improve the outcomes for care experienced young people?
• Would you like to support young people to build bright and stable futures for themselves?
• Would you like to spend every day at work knowing that you have made a difference in the lives of young people?
•  

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

The 18+ Care Leavers Service is a growing service that provides support to the Local Authorities care experienced young people. Kent County Council is a large authority and so this service is based at two sites at either end of the county, one in Dover and the other in in West Malling.

The Mental Health Social Worker will work alongside and assist Personal Advisors working with care experienced young adults (care leavers aged 18-25yrs) who present with complex mental health needs:

• To provide consultation and advocacy in assisting these young adults in accessing mental health resources in the community so that they receive the appropriate support as well as carry a small case load of care experienced young people presenting with complex issues.
• To work in co-production with a range of statutory and non-statutory partners to maximise access to community and wellbeing resources in support of person centred recovery planning. This will include person centred assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of actions plans in collaboration with Personal Advisors and multi-agency partners.
• To ensure that resources are utilised effectively to empower the people who use our services and to safeguard and promote their welfare. 

The post-holder should be working at the level of capability set out in the Professional Capability Framework and the Kent Social Care Capability Framework for “Advanced Practitioner/Professional Educator/Social Work Manager” and should have an understanding of the Care Leavers Act and other relevant legalisation that applies to care experienced young adults, such as the Social Work Act 2017 You should also have an appreciation and understanding of “corporate parenting” as well as Adult Social Care and Mental Health legislation.

The role is a dual role, and you will hold a small caseload alongside offering support to the Personal Advisers. The Mental Health Social Worker will hold a small case load of highly complex cases (presenting with acute mental health issues) who will either remain in the service and be allocated a Personal Adviser once support is in place or be supported by other services.

You will need to provide high quality advice and support to service colleagues and Personal Advisors and to help share and manage risks in relation to complex mental health cases. This will include providing advice to senior managers to assist in appropriate service and case planning and may include attending panels to review cases.

All staff within the 18+ Care Leavers Service want the best for the children of Kent, and we know this can only be delivered as a team effort with everyone playing their part. The service has continued to expand, taking a multi-disciplinary approach to support Personal Advisors to meet the needs to young adults. With a strong commitment to the ideas of corporate parenting the service is looking for a like-minded creative Mental Health Social Worker to join the service and help us to consistently improve the outcomes and opportunities for our care leavers agreed 18 to 25 years old.

To find more information about our service and our Local Offer, you can access Moving On (lea.kent.sch.uk)

• Option to enrol in the Local Government Pension scheme when applicable
• 27 days paid annual leave per year
• Hybrid working to support your work life balance
• Staff discounts on a range of leisure products and services through our Kent Rewards programme
• Access to a range of KCC staff groups providing support and development opportunities to staff across our diverse workforce
• Regular supervision with your line manager and opportunities to develop your practice.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Interviews will be held on the 27^th August at Thistley Hill, Melbourne Avenue, Dover 

Contact Details

For more information about the role or if you have any specific questions, please contact Vikki Newman on 03000 414505 or email victoria.newman@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.