Senior Support Worker

The post holder will support adults with a severe eating disorder who are on the alternative to Specialist Eating Disorder inpatient admission pathway and their carers. The nature of this support will be guided by the patient's psychological formulation and will support the service user's recovery.

The principal support will be required at meal times or before or after and will require skilled and compassionate thinking because it is through eating that the eating disorder is most challenged. Other groups and session support will be required and will use the post holder's skills which align with the service needs. The postholder may also assist in the assessment and provision of behavioural and supportive interventions outside of mealtimes.

The post holder will also need to be able to weigh patients accurately and conduct other physical observations including taking blood pressure, pulse and temperature. The results will need to be communicated to senior staff and acted upon supportively where advised.

The postholder will support people both online and in person and will be required to travel across the east of England region to meet with patients (you will need to do this in your own car and claim back expenses - it will not be possible to do this using public transport because of the locations covered).

The post holder will need to ensure they communicate with excellence within the A-EDIT team and with community eating disorders clinicians and teams in the region.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead fulfilling lives.

Our clinical teams deliver a wide range of NHS services across inpatient, primary care and community settings, including children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, and research and development.

To achieve our goals, we recruit high calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities' employer, we welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly under represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

All appointments for new employees to CPFT are subject to the successful completion of a probationary period.

Please note we reserve the right to close adverts early should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all roles. If you apply for a post that does not attract sponsorship, your application will be withdrawn from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at https://www.cpft.nhs.uk

Essential: - Healthcare or Social Care related Diploma/NVQ level 3

Desirable: - Additional relevant training, e.g. mental health, eating disorder

Essential: - Experience of working with people with mental health problems in either an acute or community setting

Desirable: - Eating disorders experience

Essential: - Ability to observe and report to the MDT/Seniors in the team on clinical situations; - Ability to use electronic records for example case notes/Paris; - Ability to engage service users and carers in order to facilitate recovery; - Ability to communicate in a motivational, reassuring and empathetic manner; - Able to work unsupervised; - Ability to observe physical and mental state of client and report any concerns

Essential: - Ability to recognise own limitations; - Ability to remain calm in difficult situations and with clients who may be very distressed or cognitively impaired; - Ability to assess severity of a situation/presentation of service user and act to reduce risk if necessary; - To treat all clients and colleagues equally and with dignity and respect irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious beliefs; - Ability to travel independently around the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area meeting required timescales. A full driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential.