Band 6 Social Worker - CAMHS Inpatients

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

This is an exciting opportunity to join our dynamic team as a Social Worker within the Lavender Walk Adolescent Unit where you will work alongside, and be supervised by, the ward's Senior Social Worker and Safeguarding Lead.

Lavender Walk is a 12 bed General Adolescent Unit (GAU) that cares for young people between the ages of 13-18 years old, with complex mental health needs and emotional difficulties. We are a busy and friendly service which welcomes new skills and new ideas. It is part of Central & North West London (CNWL) Foundation Mental Health Trust and is located within the South Kensington and Chelsea Mental Health Centre (1 Nightingale Place, London, SW10 9NG). There are good transport links and a variety of local shops and amenities.

The Lavender Walk team is made up of two Consultant Psychiatrists (one of whom is the Clinical Lead), Consultant Clinical Psychologist (Therapies Lead), Matron (Clinical Unit Manager), Ward Manager, Qualified Nurses, Nurse Associates, Health Care Assistants, Speciality Doctors, Junior Doctors, Clinical Psychologists, Systemic Family Psychotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Art Therapist, Speech and Language Therapist, Dietician, Social Workers and Teaching staff. We also regularly have students and trainees from the above professional disciplines on placement with the team.

Main duties of the job

This is a new role and an exciting opportunity to help develop our social work treatment pathway delivering assessment and interventions to our young people and their families. We are looking for a motivated individual who is enthusiastic, creative, forward thinking, and adaptable to work within our well established and welcoming team.

The successful applicant will provide a social work service to young people experiencing mental health problems across all sectors of care as part of a multi-disciplinary CAMHS team. In your role, you will work with young people and their family/carers developing a therapeutic relationship and contribute to the multi-disciplinary assessment and interventions of young people to support their recovery and reintegration back to community settings.

Your role will involve liaising with Children's Services and other external professionals and agencies to help facilitate discharge and the transition back to the community. As a social worker on our ward, you will also be central in ensuring that safeguarding concerns are responded to appropriately and in a timely manner by the service and other agencies, which will often involve providing specialist advice and consultation to your colleagues to ensure that safeguarding processes are followed.

About us

CNWL have a pioneering history improving health outcomes in people's lives, by providing physical and mental health services at GPs, clinics, hospitals, and in the community.

Our base is in the Chelsea area, next to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Thanks to the heavy NHS influence many local cafes, restaurants and bars give discounts at 10-20% to all NHS staff.

As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues, and patients when working in our healthcare settings.

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached job description for further details of the main responsibilities of this role.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• A recognised social work qualification and registered with Social Work England.
• Significant post first qualification practice/clinical experience in a child care setting.
• Evidence of post-qualifying CPD and training.
• Completion of ASYE (Assessed and Supported Year in Employment).
• Additional training in child and adolescent mental health and/or risks and vulnerabilities associated with this population.

Experience

• Experience of utilising a range of social work skills at post-qualifying level in a child and adolescent mental health and/or statutory children & families social work setting.
• Experience of safeguarding practice, working with children subject to a child in need and child protection plan, identifying and managing risk.
• Experience of working with children with mental health difficulties and complex needs.
• Experience liaising with a range of professionals and interagency working.
• Experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team and/or network.
• Experience of delivering evidence-based practice in relation to children and families.

Skills and Abilities

• Skills in working with vulnerable children and families, including mental health difficulties.
• Ability to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy, using good communication skills.
• Ability to manage the risk of verbal and physical aggression and to withstand high levels of emotionally charged situations.
• Ability to provide services relevant to diverse social, cultural and religious backgrounds.
• Ability to assess, including risks, and to formulate comprehensive assessment and offer a range of effective interventions based on systemic principles and act in accordance with Child Protection and risk policies and procedures.
• Capacity to work independently, but have the skills to recognise the need to consult to professional colleagues from the multidisciplinary team and/or other departments within CNWL or to external agencies.
• Skills working with neurodivergent adolescents and/or adolescents with learning disabilities.

Knowledge

• Understanding of systemic theory and other models relevant to social work practice.
• The impact of abuse, trauma and other adverse experiences on children and families.
• Knowledge of key legislation central to the implementation of a holistic professional social work service including Children's Acts 1989/2004, Mental Health Acts 1983, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Community Care Act 1990 and the Carers Act 2004.
• Knowledge of current issues and policies related to social work practice.
• Theory and practice of approaches to support parenting.

Other

• Commitment to ongoing post qualification ongoing CPD.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Address

Lavender Walk Adolescent Unit

South Kensington and Chelsea Mental Health Centre, 1 Nightingale Place

Senior Social Worker and Safeguarding Lead

£44,806 to £53,134 a year per annum incl. HCAS

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

333-G-CA-1542

Job locations

Lavender Walk Adolescent Unit

South Kensington and Chelsea Mental Health Centre, 1 Nightingale Place