We are looking for an enthusiastic Healthcare Support Worker to join our friendly South East Kent Crisis Team
Be the Turning Point in Someone's Crisis
We are looking for dedicated Healthcare Support Workers to join our Home Treatment and Rapid Response Service. This is not a standard care role; it is a frontline position designed to provide urgent, compassionate intervention for individuals experiencing significant mental health distress in the community. Our goal is simple: to provide high-quality care at home and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.
Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team of Nurses, Doctors, and Social Workers, you will:
Deliver Crisis Support: Visit clients in their homes to provide emotional support, safety planning, and practical interventions during periods of acute distress.
Rapid Assessment Support: Contribute to urgent 24/7 assessments triggered by the Urgent Mental Health Helpline and Liaison Psychiatry services.
Monitor Wellbeing: Observe and report changes in a client's mental state, ensuring the wider clinical team can respond dynamically to risks.
Empower Recovery: Work with clients and their families to develop coping strategies and facilitate a return to stability.
The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
Main duties of the job
* To be able to drive to community locations in a timely manner. The areas covered include Dover/Deal, Shepway and Ashford
* To work as a member of the Home Treatment and Rapid Response services.
* You will be working within the home treatment function, delivering support to patients and their families using evidence-based, profession-specific and general mental health knowledge, providing client centred, recovery-oriented principles and practice for individuals, families and carers referred to the service.
* You will also work within the Rapid Response function, contributing to assessments received 24/7 from the Urgent Mental Health Helpline, as well as undertaking gatekeeping assessments in the general hospitals and the community.
* To work in accordance with Trust and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team Policies and Procedures and the Care Programme Approach.
* To provide an alternative to inpatient admission treating clients in their home environment who are presenting in a crisis with significant distress.
About us
We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated 'Good' by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.
Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.
Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's doing well together.
Job responsibilities
* Contribute in the assessment of clients referred to Home Treatment and Rapid Response Team.
* To provide support to clients of Home Treatment and Rapid Response and their carers in relation to mental health care, daily living and social activities.
* To help maintain the social network by the use of a range of home treatment interventions.
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification
Person Specification
Training & Qualifications
* Be willing to work towards the qualifications listed in the desirable section
* Ability and desire to both obtain and underpin knowledge and skills appropriate to a support worker
* NVQ level 2 or 3 as an example
* Certificate in mental health
* Health & Social Care award
Experience
* Previous experience of working in or using mental health services
* Knowledge/experience of emotional distress
* Knowledge/experience of mental health Services
Knowledge & Skills
* Ability to listen effectively and communicate effectively at all levels
* Basic written communication skills to enable completion of records etc
* Empathy, compassion, and patience
* Ability to create innovative solutions to help empower service users
* Ability to work on own initiative in a range of settings
* Ability to form positive therapeutic relationships with service users and carers
* A keenness to make a positive contribution to improving the quality of life for people with mental health problems
* Ability to acknowledge diversity and promote anti-discriminatory practice/equal opportunities
* Ability to provide practical support with daily living skills
* An ability to act calmly in emergencies and respond in a professional manner to stressful and challenging behaviour
* Ability to reflect on practice and receive and deliver constrictive feedback to enhance performance
* Basic first aid
* Basic health and safety awareness
* Moving and handling awareness
* Awareness of local services/resources
* Knowledge of benefits/employment system
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.
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