Older Adult Community Connector Mental Health

The role involves providing holistic support to older adults suffering from a serious mental illness or SMI. Service users will have a single or range of diagnosed conditions, will be known to ELFT and will therefore have a range of needs, including symptoms of anxiety ordepression, or have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Specifically, the Older Adult Community Connector will work with multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) who sit within primary care networks or PCNs (clusters of GP practices) across Newham, and will support people inaccessing appropriate local services, embodying a true example of wrap around support.Older Adult Community Connectors will work with ELFT under what is called the Mental Health Transformation Programme. The ethos of the programme is recovery focused, exploring needs through complexity (rather than diagnosis), a focus on a personsstrengths and assets, and on the wider determinants of health and wellbeing.Above all, the Older Adult Community Connector will be a
strong networker who is able to engage multiple stakeholders for the betterment of service user welfare and outcomes., The role includes the following list of duties. The Person Specification sets out the qualities and skills needed / expected to undertake the role. Work within the local community being alert to mental health needs of local residents. It will provide support and signposting in a range of ways as agreed with the PCN and wider partnership. This may include, but is not exclusive: Meeting service users, predominantly the 65+ age group, in informal and formal settings to encourage engagement Work within the MDT of the PCN taking actions as agreed by the MDT and recording the outputs and outcomes appropriately Work closely with the Mental Health Care of Older People team within the NHS Trust in supporting service objectives. Provide individual service users support and signposting in a range of ways as agreed with the PCN and wider delivery partnership Group facilitation Coaching, Building Trust and Motivating people in their progress Referrals to other mental health provision within the
Borough Direct, individual support to service users on a case by case basis and assessing pertinent signs - as trained - Signposting to community services Ongoing monitoring of risk to build a positive but sensitive attitude to caseload Providing clarity to the MDT and people on their lists as to how different areas of their need are being addressed by the different provision they are engaged with To provide continuity and reassurance to the people on caseload

Age UK East London (AUKEL) is a local independent charity, which is part of the national Age UK network. We work across Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Newham to deliver serviceswhich support older people to live healthier, happier and more fulfilled lives.Each year we support around 20,000 older East Londoners by providing flexible practical and emotional support in homes, hospitals and in the community. Our boroughs have the countrys highest pensioner poverty in the country, further exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis.How we help:1. We tackle povertyEach year our advice service supports over 2,000 older people to claim £3.2million in welfare benefits, grants and relief entitlements. During the cost of living crisis we distributed £42,000 worth of emergency vouchers for food, helping older people ensure there was food in the fridge.2. We alleviate lonelinessAccording to a national model, Tower Hamlets has the highest rates of loneliness