Advocacy for Mental Health and Dementia

Job Description

Mental Health Advocate

Hours:23

Salary: £22,958 – 25,472 pro rata (this scale is subject to an annual cost of living rise at the nationally agreed rate if endorsed by the Management Committee)

Responsible to: A4MHD Management Committee via the Manager.

Responsible for:

  1. Fulfilling statutory Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) as provided by the Mental Health Act (2007) amendments
  2. Providing non-statutory independent advocacy for service users in a variety of settings

Decision Making: To plan and organise own work subject to priorities set by management

Financial Responsibilities: To observe financial policies and procedures of A4MHD.

Range of Duties:

  1. To identify and respond to requests for Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) for people eligible to receive this service, providing high quality advocacy.
  2. To work with people eligible for IMHA across all adult and older people’s services including mental health and dementia.
  3. To respond appropriately to requests for non-statutory advocacy, identify advocacy issues and provide high quality one to one independent advocacy.
  4. To develop trusting relationships and maintain positive professional relationships with people who use our services.
  5. To liaise effectively with relevant service providers and individual professionals while fulfilling the independent advocacy role.
  6. To keep informed of concerns about the rights of people with mental health issues at local and national levels.
  7. To stay abreast of developments and changes in mental health law, community care law and service delivery.
  8. To undertake any relevant training identified and agreed with the Manager and identify your own training needs in supervision and appraisal sessions.
  9. To provide training sessions / presentations on the work of A4MHD when required.
  10. To maintain complete and satisfactory records and administrative systems and contribute to the efficient running of A4MHD. To take an active part in reviews of recording systems.
  11. To produce a written report of ongoing work for Management Committee meetings as required. To produce an annual report and monitoring figures for annual publication.
  12. To fulfill all monitoring requirements of A4MHD in an efficient manner.
  13. To plan, review and monitor own work in liaison with the Manager. To attend regular supervision sessions with the Manager or Senior Advocate
  14. To work cooperatively with other members of staff including attending team and planning meetings.
  15. To work within A4MHD policies and procedures at all times.
  16. To positively promote and represent A4MHD among service users, service providers and community organisations.
  17. To build community links and familiarise yourself with community resources in order to maximise the benefit of the advocacy process.
  18. To undertake other duties within the remit of this post as agreed by the Manager and Management Committee.

Note:

There will be an initial six months probationary period with reviews. Continued employment will depend on the outcome of the reviews.

IMHA JD March 2013