About Us
Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. The Working Age Mental Health Services (WAMHS) team has a vacancy for a full time Mental Health & Wellbeing Officer.
We are embracing a strengths-based approach and working within a community-led support model that builds on the assets and strengths of both people and their local communities. Together, we will focus on prevention, enablement, reablement and safety, to promote wellbeing and independence. We will ensure that residents, families, and communities have the right support in place, and at the right time.
We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and offers the right balance between challenge and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents. We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do and that we maintain an environment within which our Mental Health & Wellbeing Officers can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your social work career.
This could be the opportunity for you to really make that difference… so read on to find out more!
About The Job
Salary: £29,540 to £32,061 per annum
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Bognor and Chichester
You will be part of a welcoming and supportive Adult Mental Health Team within West Sussex Adult Services, delivering person-centred, strengths-based support to adults experiencing complex and enduring mental health challenges. Collaborating with social workers, health professionals, carers, and community partners, you will play a key role in promoting wellbeing, recovery, and independence.
You will adopt a curious, creative, and collaborative approach, building positive relationships with individuals to understand their strengths, aspirations, and support networks. Through meaningful conversations and strengths-based interventions, you will empower people to identify and achieve their personal goals, improve their wellbeing, and enhance their quality of life. You will work proactively to identify barriers affecting wellbeing, recovery, and social inclusion. Through effective partnership working and a person-centred approach, you will contribute to positive outcomes that enable people to live fulfilling lives and remain connected to their communities.
As a Mental Health Prevention & Wellbeing Officer:
- You will have a distinctive contribution to make to the current challenges faced in mental health services.
- You will need to understand and implement a strength-based approach that will ensure that all customers are supported in this manner. This approach would be applied in all elements of social care including assessment, planning, implementing, and review of customers care.
- You will need to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of The Care Act, The Mental Capacity Act and how to apply it to Social Care, while ensuring West Sussex County Council safeguarding procedures are followed.
- You will be working with Social Workers closely across services, both internally within Adult Social Care, and externally with our partner organisations alongside such as Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust and other third sector agencies. To do this you will need the ability to build and maintain relationships with several agencies to ensure effective support is provided to customers using mental health services.
- You will be working with customers who need social care support to enable them to live meaningful and independent lives. You will be supporting customers in the community and those discharged from hospitals and will require the ability to work under pressure and respond to changing demands.
- You will collaborate with customers with specific mental health difficulties, in conjunction with either: experiences of domestic violence, substance misuse, homelessness and occasionally the criminal justice system.
Experience and Skills
Key Skills (these will be used as short listing criteria so please cover with examples in your application):
- Ability to analyse and interpret complex data and information and prioritise needs to make recommendations / decisions which will have a positive outcome.
- Highly developed communication skills to persuade, negotiate or influence within or outside the organisation to achieve challenging / sensitive objectives and ensure implementation of solutions.
- Ability to challenge existing practices and identify innovative solutions, setting timescales and objectives, and reviewing effectiveness of service delivery.
- Ability to work in a multi-agency working environment that contributes to improvements for individuals and/or services.
- Ability to make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, which may have a wider service impact and could be business critical, including the ability to tackle difficult problems of a technical, professional, resource or people related nature using existing policies, procedures, and knowledge to devise approaches.
- Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice, and supervision.
Qualifications and/or experience:
- Experience of working within adult social care, or a care provider or health provider, with experience of working with individuals who have complex mental health needs.
- Experience of forming effective working relationships within a multi-agency setting.
- Up to date knowledge and experience of safeguarding, Care Act assessment and review processes, policies, and legislation.
- Working knowledge of financial eligibility for statutory services and benefits.
- Knowledge of a variety of associated legislation, for example Care Act, Mental Capacity, Mental Health Act.
- GSCE English and Maths, or equivalent qualification or experience demonstrating that level of literacy and numeracy.
Please note if we have a high volume of applications the advert may be closed early.
Rewards and Benefits
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE06423.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Karen Golding (Acting Team Leader) at [email protected]. For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected].
To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to , an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.
West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.
For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme (if you meet the essential criteria), this can be found on our application help page.
Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!
