Assertive Outreach Practitioner- Floating Support

Role Purpose: Under supervision of the Assertive Outreach Team Leader, the post holder will work as part of the multi-disciplinary outreach team to support the delivery of recovery care plans for clients with a range of mental health, substance misuse presentations and housing needs in the community and facilitating appointments in the community and signposting.

This will include targeted wrap around substance misuse support that seeks to prevent homelessness and maintain accommodation. They will be vital in liaising with professionals; ensuring substance misuse and other appointments are flexible to need and providing harm reduction advice, brief interventions and signposting into voluntary and statutory substance misuse services according to need.

They will have working knowledge and experience of both drug and alcohol detoxification and treatment programmes with an understanding of holistic aspects of care. They will have experience with service users who have mental health and co-occurring substance misuse difficulties to provide the speediest, most effective facilitation to connect with the services they may need.

The post-holder will work directly with service users with complex needs across the area. The main aim of the role is to engage with these individuals, identify barriers and work with them towards recovery and social stability. The post holder will support the delivery of community based mental health, substance misuse and housing support services within across the area.

They will work closely and in partnership with the other elements of the service including specialist mental health, substance misuse services and housing in the borough. They will support the Assertive Outreach Manager in developing links between services that ensure service users with complex needs access the full range of care and treatment services to meet their needs.

A further key role will be for the post holder to be part of the team supporting a caseload of dual diagnosis/complex needs service users under the support of the Assertive Outreach Manager. This post will involve linking with partnership agencies e.g. mental health services, substance misuse services and housing initiatives.

The post holder will work intensively with people to support them in their home and/or community, preventing further decline in their presentation and emergency services responses alongside facilitating appointments in the community to promote wellbeing and recovery

They will also have part of their time planned for specific activities which may include linking/signposting with partnership agencies to support service users whilst they are in crisis, supporting the assessment of service users within community mental health, substance misuse and housing needs. The post holder will be expected to work to a clearly defined personal recovery plan with the service users and use the range of interventions required.

The post holder will deliver all services in line with Kaleidoscope’s Operational Policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), ensuring that care is safe, undertaken to a high standard and informed by up-to-date practice. The post holder should therefore be committed to evidence-based practice, sound clinical governance and continual improvement.

The post holder will have a non-judgmental approach to people who have substance misuse and mental health problems and be able to provide a welcoming and accessible service to existing and potential service users.