Practice Manager

Practice Manager- Mental Health and Wellness Team-North

• Reporting to a Team Manager, to manage and professionally supervise a number of qualified & support staff and to support other colleagues. To be responsible for ensuring the delivery of high quality and legally compliant social care practice to agreed standards for the staff within the remit of the post.
• To undertake the full legal range of social care assessments and develop person-led support plans that meet the needs and outcomes of individuals.
• To manage a complex caseload.
• To maximise the independence and wellbeing of adults and older people in Mental Health and Wellness Team.
• Work directly with adults and older people , the work has significant implications for the well-being of individuals and might involve situations where service users personal liberty and or safety is at risk Professional colleagues, other providers and external agencies to gather and exchange information and co-ordinate actions. Represent the Council at multi-agency meetings.
• Liaise with external and internal partners and other agencies on day-to-day service issues and to co-ordinate actions. Works with a range of agencies and extended services, to support adults and older people and promote good practice.
• Sensitivity, persuasiveness, negotiation and assertiveness skills are required to communicate with diverse audiences in emotive circumstances. Ability to build trust and confidence with adults and older people and colleagues. May need to manage challenging behaviour and difficult situations.
• Maintains good working relationships with other professionals whilst challenging the decisions of other statutory agencies.
• Direct line management responsibilities.
• Act as a first line manager and team member
• Manage a complex and varied caseload, including a safeguarding lead role and investigating complaints, within a framework of policies and procedures. Flexibility to deal with the immediate situation and with access to professional supervision or line management for guidance. Subject to managerial control and review of results.
• The practice manager role is an expert in managing uncertainty, developing mutually trust and respectful relationships with people, making fine judgements about risk and daring to work creatively and innovatively.
• Using their skills in communication and empowerment to enable people to take considered risks, the practice manager will deliver a service that protects and safeguards vulnerable adults, their families and carers, supporting them to assess their own needs and capacity, promote their independence, and manage risk and uncertainty.
• Use initiative to deal with complex issues and respond appropriately in an unpredictable work environment. May involve isolated working outside core hours.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of improvements in processes and procedures

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Significant post-qualifying social work experience in a Children & Families setting
• Experience of undertaking highly complex casework within a statutory childrens setting
• Experience of service delivery which is culturally sensitive and responsive to the needs of a multi-cultural community
• Experience of prioritisation, care planning and service delivery
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience in assessing complex risk
• Experience of having to interpret, understand and make judgements on the complex interactions between the risk and protective factors in any given situation when arriving at a decision about whether the child or young person is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.
• Have high-level knowledge and skills in gathering information from a range of sources, including direct observation of children and young people and their interactions with mothers, fathers and carers.
• Make timely judgments and decisions that are based on evidence and thorough analysis of all the information gathered.
• Demonstrate an ability to draw up specific practical plans with clear timescales that are based on high quality assessments, which set out the planned outcomes for the child or young person.
• Systematically monitor and review decisions and plans, revising them where appropriate in the light of new information and evaluation of whether the interventions are achieving the planned outcomes.
• Know about the different methods of intervention and, on the basis of a critical review of the research evidence, understand their effectiveness.
• Demonstrate or show evidence of having undertaken and managed to completion no of complex cases and able to demonstrate a high level of conceptualisation of critical analysis.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written).
  
• ICT skills including use of Microsoft applications.