Specialist Recovery Worker (Mental Health)

We are Hestia. We make a difference.

At Hestia, we are guided by our core values and are dedicated to fostering an equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisation. We provide a range of services, including Domestic Abuse support, Modern Slavery assistance, Mental Health & Complex Needs care, and Criminal Justice. Our mission is to empower individuals to rebuild their lives and achieve independence.

The service you will work in….

Our service provides a place of safety to adults in South London who are experiencing or feel that they are at risk of having a mental health crisis. We operate in the evenings, at weekends and bank holidays to support individuals to reduce immediate crises and to plan to avoid future responses by developing coping skills, building resilience and focusing on strengths.

We are funded by South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust and it is supported by their statutory services to help individuals using the Café, into appropriate day time support and treatment. We deliver a range of support from the Café including the reduction of crisis, safety planning for the future, engagement with other support providers, group activities, peer support, and affordable food and drinks.

A day in this role looks like….

As a Specialist Recovery Worker at Hestia, you will play a crucial role in our Mental Health Crisis Alternatives service. Your contributions will directly influence the lives of our service users, guiding them towards a path of empowerment and independence.

A day will never look the same and some of the things you can expect to do/be responsible for are:

• Motivate service users to identify causes of crises and to prevent these issues triggering crisis in the future.
• Develop simple yet effective safety plans with the individual users to proactively manage their mental health and wellbeing and to avoid the use of crisis services such as A&E
• Carry out individual one to one sessions with service users and, where appropriate, to support them to develop their own wellness, recovery action plan.
• Assist service users to develop their social networks to attend mainstream or specialist educational, leisure and health related activities to support positive mental health.
• Liaise effectively with statutory providers and other voluntary sector agencies involved in the support and / or treatment of service users, specifically CORAL from SW London and St George's MH Trust.
• Actively participate in continued professional development to be able to support service users with a range of mental health issues and associated impacts including thoughts of self-harm, and behaviour which may be experienced as challenging.
• Maintain accurate records of customer visits, support, interventions provided and any outcomes, as well as all other records relating to the upkeep and maintenance of the service. 

Why Hestia?

Joining Hestia means more than just a job; it's an opportunity to be part of something bigger. We offer a supportive, inclusive and resolution driven work environment where your contributions are recognised and valued. As a member of our team, you will have the chance to grow both personally and professionally while making a lasting impact on the lives of those we serve.

We are looking for candidates who bring a combination of passion, expertise, and dedication to the table. To excel in this role, you should possess:

• Demonstrable experience of working with individuals who have experienced mental health difficulties.
• Knowledge of issues affecting those individuals with a range of mental health conditions, how to communicate effectively with these individuals and how to support them with dignity and respect.
• Takes appropriate steps in empowering service users to make choices and take appropriate control for their mental health to achieve appropriate levels of independence.
• Knowledge of relevant Mental Health legislation, in particular Care Program Approach (CPA) processes.
• Understanding of the principles of recovery as an ethos and a range of recovery approaches.
• Awareness of health and safety issues.
• Demonstrates commitment to co-producing service delivery with service users by ensuring that all activity is aligned to support service users to reduce their MH crisis and develop strategies for better mental health.
• Ability to work at evenings, weekends, and bank holidays.
• Good IT skills that include a working knowledge of functions in MS Word, Outlook, and the internet.
• Ability to complete and record basic financial transactions, i.e., managing petty cash.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Our services users come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes us stronger. We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce and value the skills, abilities, talent and experiences, different people and communities bring to our organisation.

We are a disability confident employer

Hestia is proud to be a disability confident employer, dedicated to the employment and career development of individuals with disabilities. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the role they have applied for. We also provide reasonable adjustments during the selection and interview process, and throughout your employment with us.

Safeguarding Statement

Hestia is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults, children and young people who are potentially at risk, and we therefore expect all staff and volunteers to do the same. We require all staff to undertake internal and external safeguarding training throughout their employment with Hestia.

Important Information for Candidates

If your application is successful, please be aware that you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks before a formal offer of employment can be confirmed.

We reserve the right to close this job advert early should we receive a high volume of applications or if the position is filled before the closing date. We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible to ensure their application is considered.