Social Care Practitioner WCC619109

As a Social Care Practitioner, you can make your own powerful contribution by helping Westminster residents who are experiencing mental health difficulties - providing both them and their families with an enhanced quality of life by utilising a strength-based approach.

Within the Mental Health Team, we embrace a highly successful multi-agency approach to delivering mental health services that will enable our community (some of whom may also be navigating physical disabilities) to maintain their independence, and benefit from a greater sense of wellbeing.

On a day-to-day basis you will therefore support the self-assessment of those who would benefit from access to mental health services. With a focus on helping them either remain in their own homes or return to their homes after being in hospital or a similar environment, you will provide advice and guidance on how their needs can be met. This might range from simple suggestions on the services that they might consider accessing, through to planning interventions and long-term packages of support. This will include making recommendations on equipment and minor adaptations that each person would benefit from, and ensuring that these have been carried out appropriately, so every day will provide you with plenty of variety. Across all that you do, you will ensure safeguarding of vulnerable adults is being considered and adhered to.

Our staff benefit from a unique working environment in which multidisciplinary colleagues come together to deliver the most effective level of support to service users. You will therefore work alongside Social Workers, Psychiatrists, Community Psychiatric Nurses, Psychologists and Psychotherapists, so the chance to develop your knowledge and put your career on an exciting trajectory will be second-to-none. This will include working with external partners such as community services and those in the voluntary sector, so you will have plenty of learning opportunities.

This is a fantastic stepping stone into our social care and mental health teams, so to be equal to the challenge we will expected you to have an NVQ (level 2, 3 and/or 4) or equivalent in Health and Social Care/ Promoting Independence. This will be matched by a willingness to learn, and some experience of working with adults who have physical or mental health problems. With the ability to determine the needs and urgent support requirements of vulnerable individuals, you will have a knowledge of the relevant legislation.

Your personal skills are just as important, as you will be focused on protecting the dignity of every service user, and you will have a great awareness of how various levels of disadvantage may impact on specific communities. With good communication and organisation skills, you will be a team player who is keen to build relationships with multidisciplinary colleagues and teams.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF MR K's RECOVERY

Adult Social Care in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where our passionate, caring and committed professionals do brilliant work every day.

A globe-trotting tourist called Mr K had a stroke. Hospitalised and very vulnerable, we put a unique plan together for him. He wanted to travel to Germany, but he wasn't well enough. We placed Mr K in a care home to recover. Initially he didn't like it, but our social worker worked hard to encourage him to stay. And he enjoyed the experience so much, he stayed for a year. As he was recovering, Mr K's social worker got him an iPad and a phone to help him manage his finances and arrange his next trip. This enabled him to book his tickets to Germany. 'Auf wiedersehen' and he was gone!, Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council's strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe., At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties