Family Ambassador

Suitable for those looking for flexible work in Dorset, Hampshire and Kent.

Are you looking for a rewarding and varied role where you can really make a difference? We are looking for highly motivated individuals to join our team of Local Family Ambassadors.

This is a new and exciting opportunity to support the transformation of children and young people's specialist (Tier 4) inpatient and intensive community mental health services.

As a Family Ambassador you will ensure the needs and views of parents and families are heard and acted on. You will use your warmth, personal skills and ability to listen and communicate effectively to support families whose young person is accessing Tier 4 CAMHS services.

Young people being accepted for CAMHS Tier 4 support are likely to have already been assessed in the community as having significant and urgent needs that require specialised help.

Tier 4 services are for those with the highest or most complex needs, therefore your role as a Family Ambassador will be a crucial support to families during an incredibly challenging time.

You will need to be positive, confident, engaging and compassionate, able to extend warm and welcoming invitations to parents, advocates and families whose young people are admitted to your designated Tier 4 inpatient units.

You will work with the Regional Family Ambassador and wider Provider Collaborative to achieve the following core objectives:

• Work with parents and families from admission to the unit to discharge.
• Help parents/families understand the inpatient system and processes – be a source for high quality information that is easy to understand.
• To work proactively with the allocated inpatient units. Supporting communication processes between the clinical unit and parents/families; enabling units to create a compassionate and responsive approach to parents, families and carers.
• Empower parents to access information and to be part of planning (with the young person's consent).
• Have knowledge and networks of the local area to support parents and families with information and signposting.
• To be a point of liaison with the Unit on family and carer matters, specifically quality improvement initiatives to enable more robust and inclusive engagement/parental involvement.
• Help parents raise concerns where necessary and take action to escalate those concerns if necessary.

For further information about the Family Ambassador role please click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrVQaAxyJE3dZ4BfCQcqwdhlxPYLxNqcx

A number of full-time and part-time/job share positions are available and we are looking for individuals to be based at the following Tier 4 CAMHS units:

• Pebble Lodge, Bournemouth
• Leigh House Hospital, Winchester
• Austen House, Southampton
• Kent and Medway Adolescent Hospital, Tonbridge

We are hiring a number of individuals for this role. Family Ambassadors will be required to travel to their designated units, which will be allocated based on the needs of the service (taking into consideration the geographical location of where the Family Ambassador lives, wherever possible). We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, homeworking, part time hours, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen!

Please see attached full Job Description and Person Specification.

Lived experience of a family member who has been in inpatient mental health or learning disability services is desirable but not essential. You might have other related experience - perhaps of a family member who has required support and treatment across the Health, Social Care and/or Education system.

This might be a child who has been an inpatient for a physical health reason, or who has additional needs that require more specialist support from social care, school or other CAMHS services. You may have gained experience of supporting families through professional experience - for example in a school, charity, the NHS or social services.

Most important is your ability to empathise and understand the widespread needs of the individual families who you will be supporting. You will need to communicate effectively with families to help them navigate through the often complex Tier 4 service in order to best support their young person.
You will need to show empathy, understanding, kindness and the ability to develop trust and rapport with families, professionals and the wider Collaborative team.

The Family Ambassador project has been developed in response to a range of recommendations from various reports identifying that the voice of parents and carers in their young person's pathway is often not heard and can be excluded from essential decisions.

Parents and carers have a unique perspective on the care needs of their young people and should be embraced as part of the decision-making team with the young person at the heart of the pathway. As a Family Ambassador you will enable parents and carers to be seen, heard and involved; subject to the appropriate consents of the young person.