START is a community mental health service located within The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust working with homeless people across Southwark, Lambeth, Croydon and Lewisham.
The teams provide multi-disciplinary, integrated (apart from Lambeth) health and social care for people experiencing homelessness in our area. Clients may be rough sleeping or living in hostels in our boroughs and will have a variety of needs, primarily mental ill health but also substance use or physical ill health. They will be unable or unwilling to engage with mainstream care and require an assertive outreach approach aimed at initial building of relationships due to previous trauma or adverse childhood experiences. This will allow formal interventions to later be delivered more effectively. The teams work closely with third sector agencies and statutory colleagues to provide advice and support to the former and advocacy and liaison with the latter to ensure the best care pathway to service users.
This is a new role in the Croydon START Team, aimed at supporting clients in the community and playing a key role in developing and facilitating collaborative and therapeutic relationships with the team. This will involve person centred support in a planned and coordinated manner with other team members, including practical help with activities of daily living, accompanying to appointments to maximise contacts as well as social support and meaningful occupation activities.
We are looking for a forward-thinking, creative and responsive support worker who has a passion for excluded populations, inclusion healthcare and outreach support. You will be enthusiastic, creative, resilient and be able to respond to others in a flexible manner. This varied role offers excellent opportunities to gain experience and skills in community mental health care in an award-winning team. We particularly welcome applications from people with lived experience of homelessness or mental ill health.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
By coming to work at SLaM, you will gain experience of being part of an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities, and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field.
For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Fran Busby Job title: Homeless Service Lead Email address: fran.busby@slam.nhs.uk Telephone number: 0203 228 5911
Maria Queally Croydon START manager
0203 228 5908
