Consultant Social Worker -Think Ahead

The role

Progress your career as a Consultant Social Worker

We are partnering with Think Ahead – a charity that works with NHS and Local Authority mental health services to strengthen the contribution of social work. We’ll be taking on eight trainee social workers (participants) who will join the organisation in August 2022 in two units of four. This is a great opportunity for an experienced social workers to take on the role of Consultant Social Worker to support one of the units.

In this role you will:

• Join a network of leaders across the country promoting and strengthening mental health social work.
• Lead and develop four talented participants, who are passionate about mental health and social work.
• Develop your skills in practice, supervision, and education.
• Get fully funded CPD training, including a Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Social Work from Middlesex University.
• Enhance your salary.

Role

In this full-time, fixed term opportunity, you’ll manage a “unit” of four participants within our Mental Health team. You retain a frontline role, share a service user caseload, and act as their leader and role model. You will provide practice education of outstanding quality. You’ll work with an academic tutor and assess participants’ ability to put social work theories, interventions, and legislation into practice. There may be an option to be an Associate CSW and supervise one or two participants whilst undertaking PEPS training.

Benefits

You will join a group of Consultant Social Workers delivering a prestigious, high-profile initiative across the country (to date, Think Ahead has worked with more than half of NHS Trusts and over a third of Local Authorities). You’ll receive CPD training to consolidate and develop your expertise in evidence-based interventions. You do not need to be a qualified practice educator as you will receive Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) training stages 1 and 2. If you have PEPS 2, you will do refresher training.

Requirements

You will be a registered social worker with significant experience of working with service users with complex mental health needs from a range of community mental health services. You will also need the enthusiasm, confidence, and authority to inspire others.

How to apply

To express your interest in this opportunity please apply via this job advert. Your application should include why you are interested in this role and what skills, knowledge and experience you would bring to it.

Interviews will be held w/c 27 June 2022. Please ensure you are able to undertake training (see job description).

More information

Please see the job description for more details. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Alexia Fenwick, Practice Specialist (CSW Lead) at Think Ahead, a.fenwick@thinkahead.org, 07901 611 501). You can also read about the experiences of some of Think Ahead’s current Consultant Social Workers on Community Care and Think Ahead’s website. The ‘Introduction to Think Ahead and the Consultant Social Worker role’  document also provides an overview of the organisation and the role for those not familiar with Think Ahead.