Role purpose
Our new Household Crisis Caseworker position will work alongside our Crisis Alternative Service, Ealing Safe Space and information and advice service, Pathways. This new service provides support for Ealing residents 18+ who are experiencing household crises such as: housing, debt, welfare benefits, employment. This service aims to support those facing cost of living / household crises, by providing 6-12 casework sessions. This service will primarily support those from low-income households in need, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers, single-person households, disabled people and those struggling with one-off financial concerns or unforeseen circumstances. These sessions will cover a range of elements and will aid in navigating and liaising with services. Ultimately, preventing further crises relating to cost of living and empowering individuals by providing self-advocacy tools and support plans.
The role of the caseworker will be to provide advice, guidance and navigation to Ealing residents experiencing cost of living and household crises exacerbating mental health struggles. Support offered to each individual will be person-centred and tailored, but may include: liaising with statutory services (housing officers, social workers, mental health teams etc), supporting with form filling, sourcing warm goods, supporting with grants and income maximisation, emergency applications, empowering individuals with self-advocacy skills, signposting etc.
The successful candidate will triage, onboard and manage a caseload 15-20 individuals, whilst also supporting those who drop-in to the service who require crisis intervention on the day. In addition to crisis work, the caseworker will be expected to adopt a preventative approach and encourage referrals before a crisis occurs, via partnership working both internally and externally. There will be an element of outreach working for this post. The successful candidate will work alongside our Ealing Safe Space team and be supported by the Safe Space Team Manager.
The caseworker will be required to work within the Advice Quality Standard framework (AQS), adhere to Mind s policies and procedures.
Due to the nature of the work, if successful, you will need to have an up-to-date DBS check completed prior to undertaking unsupervised client work.
Key Responsibilities
- Triage, onboard and support a caseload of 15-20 individuals
- Triage and support individuals dropping into the service for household / cost of living crisis support
- Liaise with core agencies (social services, housing, mental health teams, GPs, VCSE organisations)
- Provide advice and information relating to all welfare benefits, including assisting clients with form filling and contacting agencies such as the Department for Work & Pensions on the individuals behalf
- Complete emergency applications and grant applications
- Devise and facilitate guided mental health sessions, exploring a range of topics such as anxiety and panic, sleep hygiene, financial management
- Provide housing, general money and debt management advice
- Provide information on employment opportunities and training support for clients
- Where appropriate, source warm goods for those in need
- Engage in outreach within the borough to encourage referrals and promote the service
- Signpost to other relevant services in the borough, or further afield
- Attend training, forums and meetings to ensure knowledge remains relevant and up to date
- Keep up to date about current best practice and legislation within mental health, as well as within the field of information & advice more generally
- Provide updates and feedback to the broader teams
- Engage in multi-disciplinary meetings, both internally and externally
- Use our database Views to record details of all client referrals and contacts to ensure client information is kept up to date
- Use the correct templates, conduct outcomes and satisfaction assessments with clients on closure
- Record the results of outcome assessments and satisfaction surveys on the Views databases
- Work in line with triage procedures and use the referral process when referring cases to external organisations
- Meet regularly with service leads and colleagues to feed back about the progress of the project and ensure it is relevant to local strategy and national Government priorities
- Follow Hammersmith, Fulham, Ealing, and Hounslow Mind s organisational policies and guidelines
- Undertake additional duties that may reasonably be required to fulfil the objectives of the post
Person Specification
Knowledge and Experience
- Substantial experience of delivering advice in a similar position, preferably to individuals with mental health needs
- At least 1 year experience of working in a crisis setting (inpatient, crisis alternatives, NHS teams)
- Knowledge and understanding of mental health problems, and mental health services
- Experience of delivering advice and information
- Experience of managing complex cases and autonomously managing a caseload
- Experience of working with multiple agencies and attending multi-disciplinary meetings
- Experience of delivering desired outcomes in a timely manner
- Up to date knowledge and experience of safeguarding adults
- Understanding of the importance of monitoring and evaluation, and the ability to keep records
- Experience with de-escalation, recognising and mitigating risks
- Experience of working with challenging behaviour
- Listening to clients and encouraging positive steps towards self-management of crisis and recovery
Skills and Abilities
- Relevant and up to date knowledge of welfare benefits, housing and social care
- Ability to communicate effectively in person on a one-to-one basis and with groups, as well as over the telephone and in writing
- Excellent listening and liaison skills
- Computer literate, with the ability to use MS Office, email systems and databases (inputting information and extracting reports)
- Ability to liaise with a range of people individuals with support needs, carers, and a range of different professionals
- Ability to remain calm in challenging situations and reinforce boundaries
- Ability to support people to manage difficult feelings, and communicate their needs effectively
- Knowledge of best practice for lone working, data protection and safeguarding adults
- Willingness to undertake training related to housing and welfare benefit
- A team player
- Ability to work on your own initiative
- Ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships with service users, colleagues and stakeholders
- Strong organisation and administrative skills
- The drive to motivate self and others to achieve positive outcomes
- Flexibility in overall approach to work
- Ability to recognise and work within the boundaries of the role, including confidentiality, and the working protocols between agencies
- Strong sense of self, and ability to set and maintain boundaries
- Commitment to promoting the needs of BME communities, and a commitment to the principles of equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice
- Ability to plan and prioritise your own workload
Desirable
Lived experience of mental health problems, and of using mental health services