Support Worker Review

My role was a support worker in a low-secure psychiatric hospital. My daily tasks and responsibilities included: providing high quality, person-centred care and support to individuals in a low-secure psychiatric hospital who have a primary diagnosis of mental disorder including psychosis, personality disorders, mild learning disabilities and patients with a forensic history, being aware of areas of high risk as identified in risk assessments and delivering care and support in line with individual risk management care plans, monitoring the psychological well-being of the service users, reporting any changes and assisting in the evaluation of the outcomes of care and support, understanding the importance of maintaining confidentiality records and information in day to day communication and when certain information may need to be passed on, maintaining high standards of case note recording, being an active member of the multi-disciplinary team in assisting in organising activities for patients, making accurate records of patient observations, and escorting patients outside of the hospital. My daily interactions internally included mental health patients and members of the multi-disciplinary team (e.g. support workers, nurses, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, psychologists, admin). Daily interactions externally mainly included patients' families.

The role enhanced my communication skills and has made me more empathetic, understanding and non-judgemental towards individuals with mental health issues. I also developed my team working skills by working within a multi-disciplinary team. I also took part in internal training courses such as the Therapeutic Management of Violence and Aggression, and undertook training in hospital security procedures, mental health etc. This allowed me to work efficiently and safely in my role.

Overall, I did enjoy my programme. It allowed me to gain experience in the area of mental health which will help me in my future career. The team I worked with were great - they were really helpful and supportive. The work itself was varied, with it being fun at times but challenging and stressful at other times.However the company culture could have been better - e.g. management were not very involved and did not seem to care sometimes. However, I did enjoy the programme overall.

I did not gain a lot of input from my manager as they were very far removed from the core of the programme and not did not really interact with staff. However I gained a lot of recognition from staff within my team and patients as well which made me feel like a valuable member of the team. However I felt as though I could have been involved more in other tasks and projects e.g. psychological interventions.

The induction was very short as it was just one long 12 hour day packed full of information. It would have been better if this was done over several days with more focus and detail. Training was not available until a few months after I had started which I disagreed with. This should be given at the beginning of the programme so I have all of the knowledge and skills to do well in my role. However there was a lot of support from staff members within my team whenever I needed it. Although, there could have been more structured support meetings and I only had 1 supervision session in the year. Task delegation varied from day to day, depending on what staff members were on shift - this could be more structured.

I did receive suitable support from my adviser. My supervisor was easily accessible via email however there were sometimes when I did have to make prompts in order to get a reply. However, they gave good guidance when I came to them with any problems. Generally, they had a positive attitude towards supporting me and genuinely seemed to care and be interested in me and the programme I was undertaking. Overall, the support I received was good.

I did not receive a lot of support from my manager. Management did not interact much with the staff and were not there for support. This was a big issue especially if there had been an incident, management should have been there to provide a debrief and support. This is something that needs to be looked into. HR were not based within the country, however the admin team and management dealt with some HR issues but seemed very unapproachable. They did not provide any guidance with any problems that I had and did not have a good attitude towards supporting me.

The salary was pretty poor for the roles and responsibilities included as part of my role. Especially since the nurses do less work and get double the money! I sometimes struggled to pay living costs, daily costs etc, which meant that I did not have a lot of money to do social things. This could be improved by making the salary higher so that staff feel appreciated, offer more money for nightshift, provide incentives to encourage people to do overtime, and pay staff for their breaks as when the hospital is short staffed, it is sometimes not possible to take a break and finish on time.

There was not a lot of opportunities outside of work. I.e. there were no company events or activities that I was made aware of. There were no voluntary initiatives, events/classes, access to leisure/sports clubs etc. It would have been good to be more involved in these things if they were made available. When I wasn't working I was studying, playing with my pets, watching TV etc.

Yes

Overall, I did enjoy the experience. I gained a lot of experience in the field of mental health which will be invaluable to me in my future degree. I increased my confidence, learned a lot about mental health and gained a lot of personal and professional skills that I will be able to transfer to my future role. I think it was a great way to gain experience in my field and would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about a career within mental health.

With regards to the application process, it is extremely important that you tailor your application to the job specification. E.g. Don't just say "I can remain calm under pressure", you need to give examples of when you gave done this. Make sure you read the job description before the interview as they want to know that you know what you'll be doing! Smile a lot, make eye contact and ask questions - show that your interested in the company and your involvement.