Profession mental health support worker

Mental health support workers assist and provide treatment to people with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems. They focus on personalised cases and monitor the recovery process of their clients, providing also therapy, crisis intervention, client advocacy and education.

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Personality Type

Knowledge

  • Legal requirements in the social sector

    The prescribed legislative and regulatory requirements in the social sector.

  • Customer service

    Processes and principles related to the customer, client, service user and to personal services; these may include procedures to evaluate customer's or service user's satisfaction.

  • Adolescent psychological development

    Understand the developments and the development needs of children and young persons, observing the behaviour and the attachment relationships in order to detect developmental delay.

  • Social justice

    The development and principles of human rights and social justice and the way they should be applied on a case by case basis.

  • Social sciences

    The development and characteristics of sociological, anthropological, psychological, political, and social policy theories.

  • Company policies

    The set of rules that govern the activity of a company.

Skills

  • Undertake risk assessment of clients

    Follow risk assessment policies and procedures to assess the risk of a client harming him or herself or others, taking the appropriate steps to minimise the risk.

  • Demonstrate leadership in social service cases

    Take the lead in the practical handling of social work cases and activities.

  • Promote service users' rights

    Supporting client`s rights to control his or her life, making informed choices about the services they receive, respecting and, where appropriate, promoting the individual views and wishes of both the client and his or her caregivers.

  • Deliver social services in diverse cultural communities

    Deliver services which are mindful of different cultural and language traditions, showing respect and validation for communities and being consistent with policies regarding human rights and equality and diversity.

  • Apply organisational techniques

    Employ a set of organisational techniques and procedures which facilitate the achievement of the goals set. Use these resources efficiently and sustainably, and show flexibility when required.

  • Promote the safeguarding of young people

    Understand safeguarding and what should be done in cases of actual or potential harm or abuse.

  • Listen actively

    Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.

  • Comply with legislation in social services

    Act according to policy and legal requirements in providing social services.

  • Provide social counselling

    Assist and guide social service users to resolve personal, social or psychological problems and difficulties.

  • Assist social service users with physical disabilities

    Help service users with mobility problems and other physical disabilities such as incontinence, assisting in the use and care of aids and personal equipment.

  • Assist social service users in formulating complaints

    Help social services users and caregivers file complaints, taking the complaints seriously and responding to them or passing them to the appropriate person.

  • Delegate activities

    Delegate activities and tasks to others according to the ability, level of preparation, competence and legal scope of practice. Make sure that people understand what they should do and when they should do it.

  • Apply problem solving in social service

    Systematically apply a step-by-step problem-solving process in providing social services.

  • Prepare youths for adulthood

    Work with children and young people to identify the skills and abilities they will need to become effective citizens and adults and to prepare them for independence.

  • Manage social crisis

    Identify, respond and motivate individuals in social crisis situations, in a timely manner, making use of all resources.

  • Maintain records of work with service users

    Maintain accurate, concise, up-to-date and timely records of the work with service users while complying with legislation and policies related to privacy and security.

  • Tolerate stress

    Maintain a temperate mental state and effective performance under pressure or adverse circumstances.

  • Conduct interview in social service

    Induce clients, colleagues, executives, or public officials to talk fully, freely, and truthfully, so as to explore the interviewee`s experiences, attitudes, and opinions.

  • Undertake continuous professional development in social work

    Undertake continuous professional development (CPD) to continuously update and develop knowledge, skills and competences within one`s scope of practice in social work.

  • Promote inclusion

    Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.

  • Refer service users to community resources

    Refer clients to community resources for services such as job or debt counselling, legal aid, housing, medical treatment, or financial assistance, providing concrete information, such as where to go and how to apply.

  • Promote social change

    Promote changes in relationships between individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities by taking into consideration and coping with unpredictable changes, at the micro, macro and mezzo level.

  • Adhere to organisational guidelines

    Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.

  • Protect vulnerable social service users

    Intervene to provide physical, moral and psychological support to people in dangerous or difficult situations and to remove to a place of safety where appropriate.

  • Apply person-centred care

    Treat individuals as partners in planning, developing and assessing care, to make sure it is appropriate for their needs. Put them and their caregivers at the heart of all decisions.

  • Prevent social problems

    Develop, define and implement actions that can prevent social problems, striving for the enhancement of the quality of life for all citizens.

  • Support social service users with specific communication needs

    Identify individuals who have specific communication preferences and needs, supporting them to interact with other people and monitoring communication to identify changing needs.

  • Apply holistic approach within social services

    Consider the social service user in any situation, recognising the connections between micro-dimension, meso-dimension, and macro-dimension of social problems, social development and social policies.

  • Relate empathetically

    Recognise, understand and share emotions and insights experienced by another.

  • Apply socially just working principles

    Work in accordance with management and organisational principles and values focusing on human rights and social justice.

  • Advocate for social service users

    Speak for and on behalf of service users, using communicative skills and knowledge of relevant fields to assist those less advantaged.

  • Assist disabled individuals to participate in community activities

    Facilitate disabled individuals` inclusion in the community and support them to establish and maintain relationships through access to community activities, venues and services.

  • Assess the development of youth

    Evaluate the different aspects of development needs of children and young people.

  • Review social service plan

    Review social service plans, taking service users' views and preferences into account. Follow up on the plan, assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.

  • Apply decision making within social work

    Take decisions when called for, staying within the limits of granted authority and considering the input from the service user and other caregivers.

  • Communicate with social service users

    Use verbal, non-verbal, written, and electronic communication. Pay attention to the specific social service users' needs, characteristics, abilities, preferences, age, developmental stage, and culture.

  • Support social service users' positiveness

    Work with individuals to identify difficulties associated with their self esteem and sense of identity and support them to implement strategies like to develop more positive self images.

  • Maintain privacy of service users

    Respect and maintain the dignity and privacy of the client, protecting his or her confidential information and clearly explaining policies about confidentiality to the client and other parties involved.

  • Support service users to use technological aids

    Work with individuals to identify appropriate aids, supporting them to use specific technological aids and review their effectiveness.

  • Support the positiveness of youths

    Help children and young people to assess their social, emotional and identity needs and to develop a positive self image, enhance their self esteem and improve their self reliance.

  • Meet standards of practice in social services

    Practice social care and social work in a lawful, safe and effective way according to standards.

  • Support harmed social service users

    Take action where there are concerns that individuals are at risk of harm or abuse and support those who make a disclosure.

  • Maintain the trust of service users

    Establish and maintain the trust and confidence of the client, communicating in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way and being honest and reliable.

  • Follow health and safety precautions in social care practices

    Ensure hygienic work practice, respecting the safety of the environment at day care, residential care settings and care at home.

  • Manage stress in organisation

    Cope with sources of stress and cross-pressure in one's own professional life, such as occupational, managerial, institutional and personal stress, and help others do the same so as to promote the well-being of your colleagues and avoid burn-out.

  • Involve service users and carers in care planning

    Evaluate the needs of individuals in relation to their care, involve families or carers in supporting the development and implementation of support plans. Ensure review and monitoring of these plans.

  • Report on social development

    Report results and conclusions on society's social development in an intelligible way, presenting these orally and in written form to a range of audiences from non-experts to experts.

  • Work in a multicultural environment in health care

    Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.

  • Handle conflicts

    Mediate in conflicts and tense situations by acting between parties, such as service users, important others like families, and institutions, striving to effect an agreement, reconciliate, and resolve problems.

  • Encourage social service users to preserve their independence in their daily activities

    Encourage and support the service user to preserve independence in performing his/her daily activities and personal care, assisting the service user with eating, mobility, personal care, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals, dressing, transporting the client to doctor`s appointments, and helping with medications or running errands.

  • Communicate professionally with colleagues in other fields

    Communicate professionally and cooperate with members of the other professions in the health and social services sector.

  • Assess social service users' situation

    Assess the social situation of service users situation balancing curiosity and respect in the dialogue, considering their families, organisations and communities and the associated risks and identifying the needs and resources, in order to meet physical, emotional and social needs.

  • Work within communities

    Establish social projects aimed at community development and active citizen participation.

  • Accept own accountability

    Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.

  • Apply quality standards in social services

    Apply quality stardards in social services while upholding social work values and principles.

  • Support service users in developing skills

    Encourage and support social service users in sociocultural activities in the organisation or in the community, supporting the development of leisure and work skills.

  • Support social service users in skills management

    Provide support to individuals in determining the skills they need in they everyday lives and help them in their skills development.

  • Build helping relationship with social service users

    Develop a collaborative helping relationship, addressing any ruptures or strains in the relationship, fostering bonding and gaining service users` trust and cooperation through empathic listening, caring, warmth and authenticity.

  • Contribute to protecting individuals from harm

    Use established processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice, bringing any such behaviour to the attention of the employer or the appropriate authority.

  • Monitor service users' health

    Perform routine monitoring of client's health, such as taking temperature and pulse rate.

Source: Sisyphus ODB