The Bluebird Service is a Together for Mental Health project funded by NHS England and HMPPS.

The Bluebird Service forms part of the Integrated Community Pathway Service on the Offender’s Personality Disorder Pathway; to provide more intense, complex need psychologically informed support, advocacy and advice to women in the community.

We work in partnership with the London Pathway Project, London Probation, and the Prison Service to promote social inclusion and enable hard to reach women to engage and maintain an improved quality of life with the appropriate levels of support. The aim is that this will reduce their risk of reoffending, relapsing and recall.

The service aims to begin engagement with women within the prison (Through the Gate) prior to their release. We will then provide intensive, holistic, relational and goal orientated practical and emotional 1:1 support within the community supporting women to set realistic and individually tailored goals focusing on positive progress.

The Community Link Worker is expected to demonstrate the following competencies in carrying out their duties:

Use an outreach approach to assist service users to attend key appointments (aiming to meet service users at the gate), as indicated by the referrer.

Enable revolving door individuals to comply with orders made by the police or the court and prevent further arrests for non-compliance.

Enable individuals to find out about and access appropriate services in the community.

Enable individuals to develop confidence in engaging with relevant (mental health or other) services.

Empower individuals through promoting independence for those who may struggle with everyday life activities and supporting them to build life skills.

Empower individuals with knowledge about appropriate services and support them to access these when required.

Promote the equality and diversity needs and rights of individuals. Including people experiencing mental ill-health, people who present with symptoms indicative of a diagnosis of personality disorder, people who misuse substances and people with learning difficulties / neurodiversity, etc.

Contribute to the management of risk for the person, including raising safeguarding concerns for risk to self, others or from others.

Contribute to the development and effectiveness of the criminal justice team and our partner agencies.

Develop your own abilities to enhance work performance and engage with training/ CPD opportunities as necessary.

Maintain sound knowledge about our NHS partners that provide L&D services alongside Together.

Develop and sustain effective working relationships with external staff in statutory and other agencies. For example Community Mental Health Teams, Social Services, the Judiciary, etc.

Assist in the follow up care of service users with offending behaviour by liaising with appropriate services to reduce the need for custodial remands and sentences.

Follow up on all referrals made in a timely manner, escalating to management any unsatisfactory outcomes.

Ensure that information about the service user is communicated to all necessary services in a timely manner. That includes highlighting any unmet needs the person may have and ways of supporting them.

Contribute to the development and promotion of Together and the service by attending relevant forums. You will need a significant understanding of Together and its values, to be able to present the organisation in a positive light.

Deliver training or workshops, internally and externally, as and when requested.

Research, prepare and supply information to monitor the effectiveness of the service.

Work with the data and administrative team, to support them producing statistical data analysis as required.

Actively participate in your own personal development, by developing skills and expertise in relation to service users’ specific vulnerabilities. Examples of existing champion areas include issues related to service users from black and ethnic minority communities, older adults, domestic abuse, spirituality, etc.

Ensure your own actions reduce risk and promote health and safety.

Work flexibly, using creative and innovative approaches to achieve goals.

Actively seek and respond to feedback, adapting practice accordingly and making changes to deliver the best service possible. For example, though engaging in 1:1, and group supervision and reflective practice meetings.

Treat any information relating to service users acquired in the course of duty in the strictest confidence and discuss only with the appropriate members of staff.

Comply with GDRP and other relevant legislation.

Comply with locally agreed inter-agency protocols on information exchange, or other arrangements relating to confidentiality as negotiated with Together.

Treat any information relating to staff acquired in the course of duty in the strictest confidence and discuss only with Project Manager or, in her or his absence, with the most senior staff member on duty.

Understand principles of safeguarding adults and children and apply these in your everyday work.

Follow organisational policies around record keeping, and use appropriate systems to record information on service users.

Ensure that you keep an up-to-date record of training, both internal, external and e-learning. Complete all mandatory training as expected.

Computer/keyboard skills – Be able to use Microsoft tools effectively, as well as the service’s case management system (E3C).

Working hours – Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.

Work-related travel – You may be expected to travel for meetings or to the national office. Expenses away from your nominal base(s) are reimbursed.

Essential criteria:

The successful candidate for this role will have:

A minimum of two years’ experience working in a mental health setting.

Skills in engaging individuals with mental health and complex social care needs.

The ability to work in a flexible way to meet service users’ needs.

The ability to manage a diverse range of service users including those with protected characteristics, and a variety of social care and mental health needs.

The ability to demonstrate clear boundaries in client work.

The ability to form effective inter-agency relationships, e.g. health, probation, social services etc.

The ability to work independently in an autonomous and self-motivated manner.

Excellent communication skills, with a range of agencies and stakeholders.

The ability to maintain own safety and use outreach work protocols as agreed with line manager.

The ability to manage complex and difficult situations.

Commitment to work in ways which demonstrate and reflect Together’s values

Further areas of ability and experience to support your application and to be demonstrated at interview:

An understanding of the clinical and social care needs of adults, with different gender identities and those from underrepresented groups including minority ethnic groups, who present with various vulnerabilities, including mental health needs.

An understanding of risk assessment and management strategies, including safeguarding principles and processes.

An understanding of psychiatric symptomatology and treatment interventions.

An understanding of mental health service provision within the community.

An understanding of the social care needs system (for example employment, benefits and housing services).

Administrative and goals setting skills.

A developed sense of how the Equality Act is applied in mental health work and the criminal justice system.

Ability to work well in a team.

Ability to build and maintain effective professional networks.

An understanding of mental health legislation, particularly the Mental Health Act 1983 and related contemporary policy issues.

An understanding of the criminal justice system and the challenges defendants and practitioners face, including accessing and providing support to vulnerable individuals in criminal justice settings.

This role requires Enhanced DBS clearance.

The benefits of working for Together

Download the PDF to find out more about what you can get out of working for us.

Benefits of Working for Together

Together for Mental Wellbeing is a national charity that supports people with mental health issues to lead fulfilling and independent lives.

We value people as experts in what works best for them, and each individual we work with influences and shapes the support they and others receive from us.

Founded in 1879, today we work with approximately 4,500 people every month – at around 70 locations across England.

Our services include support in the community, accommodation-based support, advocacy, and criminal justice services.