Change Mental Health is a leading national mental health charity providing unique support to people with severe and enduring mental ill health. With over 50 years’ experience across Scotland, we believe people affected by poor mental health and illness deserve the highest quality of support in the community and that every person has the right to be valued and to share in the opportunities, challenges, and joys of everyday life.

About the Service

The Stafford Centre is the central place where we support people with their mental health in Edinburgh. This drop-in enables you to relax in the company of others in a safe environment and begin to build supportive networks. We want to help you as soon as you walk through the door and ensure you are directed towards the best activity or support for your recovery. We have many welcoming and supportive groups where you can feel valued. We deliver change at The Stafford Centre by building resilience to improve your skills, confidence and enable you to take a step forward in your life. There are many creative and wellbeing activities, from art sessions to our outdoor walking group, and a main café area where you can chat and feel welcomed by building supportive networks.

About the Role:

The Welfare Rights Advisor is a specialist role, providing one to one support to clients, managing a case load and structured face to face appointments. This role is based at the Stafford Centre in Edinburgh, and in this Thrive funded post you will support people experiencing or impacted by mental illness, providing specialist advice, advocacy and representation. Assisting to maximise client’s disposable income by ensuring they receive all appropriate benefits and services, liaising with statutory bodies when required.

You will adhere to rigorous guidelines and regulations ensuring that people receive the highest quality service possible and are committed to working to Type 3 SNSIAP.

The Welfare Rights Advisor will work with a degree of autonomy and is a team player and will play a role in developing and promoting the service. The role supports the relevant Service Managers to meet national and funder criteria, contributing to analysis, reviews and consultations to gather evidence and highlight the issues that our client base face.

A full Job Description is available for download below.

Are you a creative and motivated individual with the passion and drive to support people with a recent diagnosis of dementia to live well in their community?

If so, you can be part of a National Team of Post Diagnostic Support Link Workers (PDS Link Workers) providing high quality, person centered support to people living with dementia and their families for a minimum of a year following diagnosis in line the Scottish Government’s minimum guarantee.

The aim of the PDS National Service is to enable people to live well with dementia and is centered around Alzheimer Scotland's 5 pillar model so that people move on to a period of supported self- management.

The model includes understanding the illness and coming to terms with the diagnosis, peer support, connecting and maintaining links with their community along with planning for future care and decision making to develop an outcome focused plan to support their future hopes, desires, and aspirations.

Supporting our East Lothian locality, the post will be based within the Older Adult Community Mental Health Team, East Lothian Community Hospital, Haddington, EH41 3PF. Alzheimer Scotland’s PDS Link Workers are required to be effective team workers and have the skills to build and maintain relationships with colleagues both within Alzheimer Scotland, the NHS, and other stakeholders.

Skills in using digital platforms are essential as we use a blended approach to support people that involve some virtual meetings and on-line groups.

Applicants must hold a recognised relevant professional qualification, have a good understanding of dementia and how it affects people and their families along with excellent communication skills, a warm flexible approach, combined with skills in empathy and relationship building.

In addition, you should have skills and knowledge at the Enhanced Level of the Promoting Excellence Framework or be able to evidence you are working towards its completion.

This post requires a full driving licence and access to a car.

The successful candidate for this post will be subject to a criminal check through Disclosure Scotland.

Are you a creative and motivated individual with the passion and drive to support people with a recent diagnosis of dementia to live well in their community?

If so, you can be part of a National Team of Post Diagnostic Support Link Workers (PDS Link Workers) providing high-quality, person-centred support to people living with dementia and their families for a minimum of a year following diagnosis in line the Scottish Government’s minimum guarantee.

The aim of the PDS National Service is to enable people to live well with dementia and is centred around Alzheimer Scotland's 5 pillar model so that people move on to a period of supported self- management.

The model includes understanding the illness and coming to terms with the diagnosis, peer support, connecting and maintaining links with their community along with planning for future care and decision making to develop an outcome focused plan to support their future hopes, desires and aspirations.

Supporting our Highland locality, the post will be based within the Community Mental Health Team at Nairn Town & County Hospital, Nairn. Alzheimer Scotland’s PDS Link Workers are required to be effective team workers and have the skills to build and maintain relationships with colleagues both within Alzheimer Scotland, the NHS and other stakeholders.

Skills in using digital platforms are essential as we use a blended approach to support people that involve some virtual meetings and on-line groups.

Applicants must hold a recognised relevant professional qualification, have a good understanding of dementia and how it affects people and their families along with excellent communication skills, a warm flexible approach, combined with skills in empathy and relationship building.

In addition, you should have skills and knowledge at the Enhanced Level of the Promoting Excellence Framework or be able to evidence you are working towards its completion.

This post requires a full driving license and access to a car.

Transform Forth Valley is offering this post in partnership with the Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership.

This post will be split with 3 days in the Falkirk Self-Neglect and Hoarding Service, and 2 days in the Falkirk Social Inclusion Project.

The aim of the Self-Neglect and Hoarding Service is to support people living in Falkirk who are experiencing issues with hoarding. We currently have an established Self-Neglect and Hoarding Service in Falkirk & Clackmannanshire, with this new post expanding our team. Self-neglect is an extreme lack of self-care, it is sometimes associated with hoarding.

People who experience self-neglect often decline help from others; in many cases they do not feel that they need it or can be overwhelmed by their circumstances and are often socially isolated. This often leads to crisis interventions following a significant deterioration. We work with people who are affected by hoarding disorder and other conditions that result in extreme clutter and chronic disorganisation to make long-term sustainable change. This service aims to provide early, effective, and supportive interventions to those adults who are experiencing self-neglect and hoarding.

We aim to provide early intervention to identify need to offer support and improve outcomes, by reducing health inequalities and enabling adults to realise their potential and be connected to resilient and compassionate communities

The Social Inclusion Project (SIP) supports people who use alcohol and drugs and have backgrounds of offending or other particularly challenging behaviour, to access existing services, referred by partner organisations. The SIP model complements the work of existing agencies/services by supporting people to interact with services when their complex needs (such as substance use, homelessness, mental health illness, learning disability, welfare benefits issues, social isolation and / or family dysfunction) present barriers for their access to care. The collaborative approach between the SIP and existing services is proven to deliver an effective means by which people can access services which they might otherwise struggle to interact with.

This post holder will work directly with the service user to enable their access to an integrated pathway across universal services including the ‘Third Sector’ and wider Health & Social Care services. The service aims to tackle the issues associated with social exclusion by supporting the people affected to enable their engagement with community-based supports.

The post holder will report to the Team Leader. They will work in partnership with colleagues from Falkirk Council’s Housing and Social Work, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, NHS Forth Valley and Substance Use Services. In partnership we aim to provide services that are specifically designed to identify, engage, and support individuals. This includes issues of substance use with mental health, physical health, exclusion, learning disabilities, offending behaviour, self-neglect & hoarding, anti-social behaviour, housing, and social problems.

The post holder as an employee of Transform Forth Valley will have a corporate responsibility to contribute to the overall performance of the organisation to ensure that contractual outputs and targets are achieved. There is a responsibility for the post-holder to demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvements in service delivery for the benefit of the service user, the service, and the partners.

The post-holder will be required to work from several operational sites across the local authority areas and work flexibly within an agreed number of hours to maintain the most appropriate level of provision.

Organisational Profile

Transform Forth Valley is a Scottish based registered charity limited by guarantee (SC033772).

Transform Forth Valley is governed by a Board of Directors and is strategically led, managed, and operated on a day-to-day basis by a Corporate Leadership Team consisting of a Chief Executive, Operational and Corporate Service Managers.

Transform Forth Valley offer a wide range of services to support individuals and families who are impacted by inequality, whether this be societal, financial or in relation to their health.

Transform Forth Valley is dedicated to empowering individuals and families to live a more fulfilled life. We work with partners to actively challenge inequalities and to achieve sustainable change.

You can find out more about Transform Forth Valley here: transformfv.org.uk.

Benefits:

• Leave – For full time employees Transform Forth Valley offer 30 days of Annual Leave plus 9 days of Statutory Holiday per annum.
• Pension – If eligible Transform Forth Valley will auto enrol you into our pension scheme where we will contribute 5%, and employee’s a minimum of 3%, of your pensionable salary.
• Wellbeing Days – For permanent members of staff, who have completed their probationary period, Transform Forth Valley offer two day’s paid leave of absence per annum as a ‘wellbeing day’ to support positive mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing for staff.
• Death in Service Insurance – If eligible Transform Forth Valley will place you into the scheme upon commencement of employment and the lump sum benefit is 4 x Basic Annual Salary.