Support Mentor

**Role**:Support Mentor

**Location**:Kensington and Chelsea, London

**Salary**: £23, 550 per annum

**Type**:Permanent

We are currently recruiting for passionate, experienced and committed Support Mentors to join our accommodation-based housing and relational support services for adults with complex needs based in Kensington and Chelsea, London.

As a Support Mentor, you will develop and maintain trust, supporting residents to build capacity for positive interactions and healthy relationship capital that will enable sustainable change and enhanced personal wellbeing. Working alongside the wider ComplexHub team and other local agencies in the Borough, the Support Mentors will ensure that individualised support is available to residents and that they are delivered within an enabling environment and relational model to build trust with those we support.

You will work with residents providing 1-1 support as well as other key engagement activities, supporting them to further develop their talents and self-belief whilst managing their mental health and wellbeing. You will support, inspire, and motivate residentsto develop the required skills to build confidence and move into safe, successful independent living within the community. You will provide robust risk management, sharing information with relevant partners to help keep your residents safe.

**About the Service**:
SIG: Penrose Complex Needs Hub is commissioned via the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to provide safe, accommodation-based housing and relational support services for people who are deemed to be socially excluded. The needs of service users mayinclude but is not exclusive to:

- Single homeless people with support needs
- Rough sleepers or former rough sleepers
- Offenders or ex-offenders
- Refugees
- People with substance misuse needs
- People with multiple needs, including mental health needs
- People with challenging behaviour(s)

Residents are referred via the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Once, accommodated, they will undergo a full assessment by our experienced staff, intended to identify support needs. We work in collaboration with community partners to provide riskmanagement, support treatment, therapies, delivery of and access to interventions, and a safe environment for residents to learn and exercise new skills.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- To work directly with service users in providing a high-quality delivery of service using appropriate planning and monitoring tools.
- To ensure that the service users are empowered at every reasonable opportunity to make decisions and take control over their life and service unless this is clearly detrimental to their well-being.
- To create a trauma informed & Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) so that the service users can move their life forward looking for real community connections, friends, hobbies, interests, work and being creative and challenging about the supportprovided.
- To be creative in involving the service users in meetings which ensures they remain at the centre of the discussion and make choices and decisions.
- To support service users to achieve their goals, in line with their support plan.
- As part of service users support plan, to liaise with external professionals, e.g., GP’s, probation officer, Care Coordinators, Housing workers etc.
- To recognise the indicators of deteriorating mental health, and to initiate discussion about strategies and appropriate interventions to address such deteriorations.
- To encourage service users to recognise, understand and begin to address factors which affect their wellbeing.

**Experience Required**:

- Appropriate professional qualification: NVQ / Diploma level 3 in Health & Social Care / Mental Health / Housing or professional equivalent
- Direct experience of working in reintegration and rehabilitation services or similar services with a recovery focus
- Practical experience of drafting and agreeing support plans and providing appropriate interventions for service user
- An understanding of the needs of vulnerable people who may also have mental health, offending or substance misuse problems.
- Experience of recovery focused key working, support planning, needs and risk assessment
- Excellent and proven ability to form effective positive and motivational relationships
- Able to manage and de-escalate emotionally challenging and distressing situations

**Benefits of working with us**:

- Excellent core and on-going training aligned with personal development plan
- Access to employee assistance programme
- 25 days holiday increasing to 26 days after 2 years and increasing 1 day per year up to 30 days annual leave
- Medi-cash which includes the following:

- Discount gym membership
- Routine eye tests, glasses and contact lenses
- Dental treatment via NHS or Private
- Physiotherapy, Head Massage and a range of other therapies
- Life Assurance

If you wish to work with this challenging yet rewarding client group then this could be a perfect opportunity for you
- All successful applicants will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check and provide employment references covering the last 5 years period including one from your most recent employer._