Next Steps - Volunteer Community Navigator - Open Mental Health

Volunteer Community Navigator Role Description – Next Steps

As a volunteer Community Navigator you will be working with individuals who require support from someone who understands. This connection may be made over the phone, by remote meeting or face-to-face.

Volunteer Community Navigator would be working alongside people at the earliest point possible and continuing support past the 3 month period that Community Navigators would be supporting.

Bringing your lived experience, you will have the desire to support and encourage others on their individual recovery journeys. You will be able to clearly draw upon and share, your own experiences of mental health challenge and services in order to inspire, model, and inform others in similar situations and support them in finding their own path to recovery.

In particular you will be providing a specialised role in a new Next Steps Team working to improve timely discharges for people with mental health needs leaving hospital and moving back into the community. We know that often people are clinically well to be discharged from hospital but support and accommodation is not in place to enable safe and smooth discharges. This new team will work with social workers, hospital discharge teams, Somerset Foundation Trust, housing providers and community organisations to enable people to transition safely back home. The team is made up of workers from Citizens Advice, Mind and Second Step.

Your role will be aligned to a locality within Somerset (either Taunton and Somerset West or South Somerset) and, as part of the wider team, you will start to build a trusting relationship with individuals while they are an inpatient, ensuring the discharge process runs smoothly and going on to support the person as they adjust to returning home and in accessing community provision such as peer or activity groups. We will also be working as part of a wider team and alongside an allocated Community Navigator to provide consistent support.

If the person being supported requires support after the 3-month period that the Community Navigators can provide their level of support, then the Navigator will make an introduction to another Open Mental Health provider that would be able to provide appropriate longer term support.

If a volunteer Community Navigator works alongside the individual post the project funding or on a longer-term period this could be done under the structured guidelines of Next Steps managers and the Community Navigator team. Volunteers will be provided with mobile phones by Second Step and will be able to maintain contact with the client once the volunteer & client agreement has been signed and expectations of this clarified. The time spend will be agreed among the volunteer and client and this will usually be for a maximum period of 6 months.

 In this role you will be:

·       Establishing a trusting and collaborative relationship with the service-user, working with them on the inpatient unit to providing sensitive, collaborative and non-judgemental support and continuing this upon discharge and once back in the community.

·       Supporting the smooth and safe discharge from hospital into the community. 

·       To identify additional community-based support networks and, if required, accompany individuals to groups or activities in order to build their confidence.

·       To link people to training, volunteering/employment activities.

·       To maintain hope and optimism for the individual with high expectations for recovery, use lived experience to positively support the individual’s recovery.

·       Listening, sharing and valuing the process of those you work with

·       Role modelling and providing positive examples of hope and possibility

·       Providing practical information and signposting

·       Showing understanding, acceptance and empathy based on shared experience

·       Helping to access community facilities and resources

·       Supporting individuals to develop ideas for coping strategies and problem-solving skills

·       Help individuals identify their own hopes, dreams and aspirations and to explore opportunities and ways to realise them

What we can offer you

Comprehensive training programme and bespoke training to suit your specific interests within the service

Group reflective practice with external facilitator

1:1 management supervision

Ongoing support and development opportunities

Support moving into paid employment if desired

Experience working alongside - Mind, Citizens Advise, Second Step, Somerset Foundation Trust - NHS.

Person Specification:

We are looking for volunteer Community Navigators who have:

·       We are looking for peer support workers with lived experience of mental health

·       personal experience of recovery from mental health challenge

·       the desire and ability to share personal experiences of mental health and recovery to support, empower and bring hope to others

·       the capacity to manage their own mental health needs

·       an awareness of self-management resources and coping strategies

·       an ability empathise with others and form trusting relationships

·       a non-judgemental approach and an ability to maintain appropriate boundaries

·       good listening and communication skills, reliability and good time keeping

·       An ability to take responsibility for your own self-care and willingness to utilise the support and supervision provided by the Peer Support Connections Coordinator

Organisation:

Volunteer Community Navigator are responsible for supporting the service goals and processes of their supporting organisation. Working alongside Mind and second step

Hours: 2-10

Reports to: Mind or Second Step Community Navigators

Start date: 01/04/2021 – or ASAP after this date

Location: Roles available throughout the county – Taunton, Yeovil, Bridgwater, Mendip.