Location
Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster

Hours
Full Time (hours not specified)

Salary
£46,854 per annum

About the Role
As a Substance Use Specialist Care Manager, you will manage a challenging caseload supporting service users with mental illness and substance use comorbidity. Your role includes conducting assessments, care planning, harm minimisation advice, and delivering individual psychosocial sessions to vulnerable people who often have a history of difficult engagement with services. Acting as a link worker between statutory mental health services and the local authority’s Dual Diagnosis Team, you will ensure effective information sharing between services.

You will work proactively with voluntary sector substance use services, attend meetings, and provide guidance, advice, and knowledge relating to mental illness. Your responsibilities include promoting general health and well-being, maintaining positive therapeutic relationships, and identifying and referring service users to substance use day and/or residential rehabilitation programmes when appropriate. You will regularly review placements and support service users in achieving abstinence.

Additional duties include co-facilitating groups that help service users learn from each other’s experiences, providing training to fellow professionals on Dual Diagnosis, and maintaining comprehensive, up-to-date records of interventions. You will be committed to identifying the cultural, spiritual, and communication needs of users within Westminster’s diverse communities and participate in multi-disciplinary crisis responses, continuous risk assessment, and management.

Familiarity with The Care Act, Mental Health Act, and Mental Capacity Act is essential, as is acting as a Lead Enquiry Officer in Care Act assessments and safeguarding enquiries. This role offers the opportunity to make a powerful contribution to improving lives through a person-centred, strengths-based approach.

Experience
Well-developed experience working in inpatient or community settings with service users who have severe and enduring mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Ability to respond to challenging mental health crises and undertake assessments to determine service eligibility against statutory criteria. Experience delivering one-to-one psychosocial interventions and facilitating group sessions using techniques such as Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Experience working alongside residential rehabilitation services is also required.

About you
Warm and empathetic communication skills with the ability to build positive therapeutic relationships. Capable of assessing, designing, delivering, and evaluating health and social care packages that support service users towards fulfilling new lives. Able to work collaboratively with a wide range of individuals and agencies, including families, carers, Police and Ambulance services, and other statutory and non-statutory bodies. Good record keeping and IT skills, particularly with Microsoft Office suite. Strong commitment to Equal Opportunities in care delivery and staff management within a multicultural community. Up to date with latest developments in nursing and social care, including recovery concepts and the personalisation agenda. Clear understanding of the practical implications of the Data Protection Act.

Qualifications
Must hold one of the following qualifications with current registration: a Social Work degree registered with Social Work England; a Nursing degree or qualification registered with the NMC; an Occupational Therapist qualification with current registration; or a Clinical Psychologist qualification with current registration. Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace and will automatically invite eligible Care Leavers who meet essential criteria to interview.