Job Title:Community Development Worker

JOB DESCRIPTION

Responsible to:Senior Community Development Worker

Salary Scale:NJC scp 29 £25,775 (plus pension on successful completion of probation)

Hours:35 per week (some evening and weekend work will be required)

Location:Voluntary Action Islington, Pentonville Road, N1 and at various community settings across Islington including Hillside Clubhouse.

The main base will be Voluntary Action Islington but much of the work will take place offsite at venues across the community so it is anticipated that most of your time will be spent in external venues across the borough.

Introduction

Hillside Clubhouse is a dynamic mental health rehabilitation and employment support project based in Islington with an excellent reputation for service delivery and we are very well connected to local organisations and networks. We work to the internationally recognised Clubhouse Model: We have expanded considerably in recent years including having a team of employment support workers in a wide range of community settings across Islington, Camden and Haringey. The Clubhouse also has its own food retail outlet and external catering service. Clubhouse members (service users) work alongside staff as equals to deliver all of the daily Clubhouse functions and day to day business. Our membership is made up of people from diverse communities and backgrounds.

This new service, whilst part of Hillside Clubhouse, will be quite distinct from current operations and mainly based offsite.

Primary functions

The service and postholder will develop strong links with excluded communities in Islington and outreach into these communities to assist people to access mental health services (including IAPT) and other services that will help them maintain their mental wellbeing. The service will provide therapeutic and practical support to service users while assisting them to access mental health services. The Service will use its knowledge of both excluded communities and mental health services to improve referral pathways and address community specific barriers to access. The role of the team is twofold – 1) to work strategically to influence change in services and 2) to provide direct support to people to access services. While both workers will have responsibility for both areas the Senior Community Development Worker will hold key responsibility for strategic work whereas the Community Development Worker will hold key responsibility for direct support work.

Key functions

There are five key roles to the service model to be undertaken by the Community Development Work Team:

Change agents: who identify gaps/barriers to mental health services and develop innovating practice and/or support teams to respond to gaps and barriers. The change agents will also influence and increase channels of communication between community and statutory services and identify gaps and concerns.

Service developers: who promote joint working amongst a wide range of community agencies and the statutory sector including NHS services and the local authority. The team will work with senior managers to highlight the importance of culture in systems and practice. The team will also provide advice on staff development.

Education and training: (in conjunction with and not duplication of Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Champions).

Access facilitators: to services and community resources overcoming language and cultural barriers. Directing people to resources and addressing barriers to and information about services.

Capacity builders: assisting in the development of community groups to support those with mental health problems and maximise support for those accessing services

It is envisaged that a team of peer volunteers from various communities will be recruited and will support delivery of the service particularly in relation to direct support to people wishing to access services (e.g. befriending, escorting, translation). There will also be an Innovation Fund which will be available to provide financial support to enable people to access appropriate support (e.g. childcare, respite, basic skills support, complementary therapies etc) to help them to sustainably access mental health services.

JOB PURPOSE:

The primary purpose of the role is to increase takeup and improve accessibility of mental health services for people from excluded communities and to establish and overcome any barriers related to this

To ensure delivery of all functions outlined above and ensure delivery of service against targets and service specification

To support the SCDW in the recruitment, support and development of a team of peer support volunteers to support service delivery

To deliver training to increase basic awareness on mental health issues, legalisation,and services as well as promote the involvement of voluntary organisations in mental health training

To work with BME, refugee and faith groups to improve their understanding of mental health and strengthen their contribution to the development of mental health services and policies in Islington

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

To support members of excluded communities in Islington to access appropriate mental health care pathways

To identify members of excluded communities with mental health needs at an early stage through proactive outreach work with specific community and faith groups and in relevant universal services such as GP surgeries, JobCentre Plus etc

To ensure members of excluded communities are linked into the most appropriate service for their need by:

- developing a good knowledge of mental health services in Islington and the referral routes into these services

- developing a good knowledge of other health and social care services and other holistic services in Islington delivered by statutory, voluntary sector or community sector partners

- supporting members of excluded communities to access mental health services and other services which will support their mental wellbeing through the management of referrals and provision of therapeutic and practical support during the referral

- ongoing support during the initial period of engagement with mental health services and during periods of transition

- the management of an innovation fund to be used to provide community specific support to service users to enable them to access services or receive highly specialist mental health support

- in particular, by identifying individual cases where specialist provision or additional input is needed and broker with locally commissioned services and other providers for this provision/input on behalf of the service user.

- undertaking outreach activity with excluded communities (through promoting local mental health services to these groups – particularly talking therapies, identification of members of excluded communities with mental health needs, promoting general awareness of mental health)

To ensure that local mental health services operate in a manner that does not create barriers to members of excluded communities by:

-Gathering information about the experience of service users from excluded communities in Islington (including the production of an annual report about this)

-Supporting local mental health services and professionals within these services to adapt and improve how services are delivered to be more accessible and supportive towards members of excluded communities

-Improving the information available to commissioners and other local mental health policy makers by collecting data and other information on excluded groups and by supporting excluded communities to participate in local forums and partnership bodies

To identify and address barriers preventing people from excluded communities accessing mental health services

To raise awareness and improve understanding and education amongst excluded groups about mental health issues

To develop innovative approaches to removing barriers preventing people accessing mental health care (e.g. working with local shops, muftis etc)

To collect and analyse information about BME, faith and LGBT groups and issues in Islington and use this to contribute to the development of borough strategies in line with commissioners’ priorities and requirements.

To develop outreach activities in order to make contact with local residents and groups to establish local needs relating to mental health.

To deliver outreach support to access services for specific service users

To establish where service users currently access support (including identification of services, organisations and places being accessed that may not be known about).

To support delivery of the Innovation Fund

To deliver training with local mental health professionals to ensure they have a good awareness of the needs of excluded communities in Islington

To attend relevant forums and meetings within the Borough

To work with London Borough of Islington, local NHS services (including Camden and Islington Mental Health Foundation Trust), BME, faith and LGBT organisations and individuals in addressing stigma and the lack of public awareness associated with mental ill health.

To produce information about mental health in accessible formats to excluded communities

To work alongside Mental Health Champions, Direct Action Service and Mental Health First Aid to address mental health awareness and tackle stigma across communities

To work with the local authority and NHS and other partnerships to ensure that services respond quickly and appropriately to people in BME, faith and LGBT communities.

To contribute to the development of equalities policy and practice in the area worked.

To work towards raising participation levels of BME faith and LGBT communities in relevant partnerships

To seek ways to strengthen the capacity and knowledge of new and existing BME community groups that contributes to the strategic direction of the Council and partner agencies.

To ensure that BME faith and LGBT groups and individuals across Islington are aware of, and utilise mainstream and specialist mental health services.

Organise and prioritise own workload with guidance from the Senior Community Development Worker and ensuring that all monitoring returns, evaluation reports and other reports are completed and submitted on time.

OTHER DUTIES

To attend relevant training in order to fulfil the requirements of the job.

To attend evening/weekend meetings as necessary with time off in lieu

To treat as confidential any information that is personal, private or sensitive about individual, voluntary and community groups and others.

To comply at all times with Hillside Clubhouse’s Equal Opportunities Policy

To comply with all policies and procedures as outlined in Hillside Clubhouse’s Personnel Procedures Manual and Staff Handbook

To undertake other duties as required tofulfil the requirements of the post.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Ability to relate to people from a diverse range of backgrounds irrespective of culture, religion, sexuality, gender, background (A/I/P)
Understanding of the needs of people with mental health problems (A/I)
Understanding of issues which may prevent people in BME, faith and LGBT communities from accessing appropriate mental health services (A/I/P)
Experience of working with people at senior levels to influence change (I)(A)
Knowledge of the statutory sector including health and local authorities (A/I)
Experience of working with community organisations serving BME, faith and LGBT communities (A/I)
Confidence with excellent presentation skills (A/I/P)
Ability to work in a creative and innovative way (A/I/P)
Experience of service development in a complex environment (S)(A/I/P)
High standard of written and oral communication skills (A/I/P)
Experience of staff management including supervision (S) (A/I)
Experience of organising meetings and/or events (A/I)
Report writing experience (A/I)
Commitment to Equal Opportunities (A/I)
Experience of facilitating change (A/I)
Training experience (A/I)
Ability to plan prioritise and deliver an agreed work plan (A/I)
Self servicing and ability to use a range of IT packages including Microsoft Office (A/I)
Ability to work on own initiative under pressure and to deadlines (A/I)
Ability to work flexible hours involving evenings and weekends to meet the varying needs of the community. (I)
Ability to/experience of problem solving and providing practical supports (A/I)
Experience of partnership working and commitment to service user involvement (A/I)

Desirable

Prior experience of community development work (A/I)
Experience of policy development (ideally in mental health) (A/I)

Assessed by

(P) Presentation

(I) Interview

(A) Application