Community Recovery team

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Community Recovery team - Drug and Alcohol Recovery Worker

The closing date is 03 October 2025

We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic Drug and Alcohol Recovery Worker to join the Community Recovery Team (CRT) within the Recovery Pathway in Northamptonshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The Recovery Pathway consists of three teams supporting people with complex and severe mental health difficulties. The teams include a 12-bed male Rehab Ward (Meadowbank), a Community Recovery Team (CRT) and the Individual Funding Team (IFT) which supports service users to find the right accommodation for their needs.

Within the pathway, our service users have complex presentations, often meeting criteria for Psychotic Disorder and/or Personality Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Commonly our service users also have longstanding substance misuse problems and engage in risky behaviours. Due to their difficulties, service users have often had many long term admission to hospital and have struggled to engage with their teams in the community. Many of our service users are at risk of re-entering hospital because of their complex difficulties. To work closely with the MDT and within other teams within the wider recovery pathway. To attend team and pathway meetings and prepare and particate fully. To participate in regular clinical and managerial supervision.

Main duties of the job

To reduce substance related harm to the individual and wider community. To promote healthier lifestyles for those with substance misuse and mental health difficulties. To support individuals with either/both abstinence based approaches or harm reduction approaches to substance misuse. To assess the nature and impact of an individuals substance misuse using interview and psychometric assessment methods. To develop brief formulations of a persons substance problems in relation to their mental health and to develop collaborative recovery plans. To establish recovery goals with each individual service user. To manage your own caseload, including a having individual and group contacts. To establish a group programme for service users with co-occurring substance misuse and mental health difficulties. To ensure all service uses have a personalised recovery plan, including warning signs for relapse and appropriate plans. To liaise with other services and share appropriate treatment plans where appropriate. To support individuals to make informed choices regarding their recovery goals, and to facilitate change for service users using motivational interviewing approach. To offer consultation to other teams in the recovery pathway with complex substance related cases. To support accommodation providers in their work with service users. To offer teaching and training to others whether necessary regarding substance use.

About us

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools.We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be 'outstanding' by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.

Over the course of approximately 18 months, the Community Recovery Team works with people to support them to live in the community, improve their quality of life using the CHIME recovery model, and where possible prevent further long-term hospital admissions. The team has small caseloads and offers intense intervention delivered by multidisciplinary team members including CPN's, OT, Psychology, a Drug and Alcohol worker and Recovery Workers.

You will be one of two Drug and Alcohol Recovery workers within the team. You will work autonomously holding your own caseload, whist also working closely and being supported by the MDT. You will assess and formulate the nature and degree of a persons substance related issue and will develop shared recovery plans with the service user.

Job responsibilities

You will develop collaborative goals with the service user, using abstinence based and/or harm reduction approaches depending on their personal goals. You will work with people individually and help set up and facilitate a group programme. You will work with families, carers and accommodation providers (where indicated) to advocate for your service user and to help promote their recovery. You will be highly motivated, passionate and will work creatively with hard to engage people who sometimes are unmotivated and ambivalent about change. You will be an excellent communicator with all those you work with and can express yourself clearly in written and verbal methods.

To work with families and carers where indicated. To support service users to access local services relevant to their recovery. To support individuals to engage in local community activities relevant to their recovery. To provide information on health promotion. To liaise closely with full range of services within the local community, including statutory and non-statutory services.

Clinical

- To take a lead role in the assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation of substance related work, using evidence based care in line with DoH, NICE and NHFT guidance
- To be responsible for the assessment of the nature and severity of a service users substance issue using interview and psychometric assessment
- To develop person centred recovery plans with service users identifying specific goals and intervention methods
- To develop brief formulations of a persons substance problems in relation to their mental health and to develop collaborative recovery plans
- To establish recovery goals with each individual service user
- To manage your own caseload, including a having individual and group contacts
- To establish a group programme for service users with co-occurring substance misuse and mental health difficulties
- To ensure all service uses have a personalised recovery plan, including warning signs for relapse and appropriate plans
- To liaise with other services and share appropriate treatment plans where appropriate.
- To support individuals to make informed choices regarding their recovery goals, and to facilitate change for service users using motivational interviewing approach
- To offer consultation to other teams in the recovery pathway with complex substance related cases
- To support accommodation providers in their work with service users
- To offer teaching and training to others whether necessary regarding substance use
- To evaluate effectiveness of interventions using outcome measures and other quantifiable means
- To promote carer and service user engagement
- To work with families and carers where indicated
- To support service users to access local services relevant to their recovery
- To support individuals to engage in local community activities relevant to their recovery
- To provide information on health promotion
- To liaise closely with full range of services within the local community, including statutory and non-statutory services

Professional

- To participate in Trusts Appraisal process and take responsibility for identifying learning needs and future goals
- To engage in regular clinical and managerial supervision
- To hold professional boundaries with service users and team members at all times
- To maintain and conduct oneself in a professional manner when working with service users, team members, carers and colleagues.
- To keep up to date with local and national guidance relevant to working with people with psychosis and substance misuse
- To record and document all clinical work efficiently using in house IT systems in line with NHFT guidance
- To maintain records and store information appropriately in line with NHFT guidance

Confidentiality

- All staff are required to respect the confidentiality of all Trust business and the business of the Trusts staff, residents, patients and general public which they may learn in the execution of their duties.

Data Protection

- All staff are expected to adhere to the regulations regarding the Data Protection Act 1984 as laid down by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Infection Control

- The prevention and control of healthcare associated infections in service users, staff and visitors is taken seriously by the Trust. All staff employed by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are required to adhere to the Trust infection control policies and procedures.
- Employees must be aware of the importance of protecting themselves, service users and visitors and of maintaining a clean safe environment. Any breach in infection control practice, which places service users, other staff or visitor at risk, may result in disciplinary actions.
- Each staff member is responsible for ensuring they identify together with their manager, their infection control training needs in their PDP.

Health and Safety

- To carry out the duties placed on employees by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 i.e.
- i. To take reasonable care for the Health and Safety of themselves and of other persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work.
- ii. To co-operate with their employer as far as is necessary to meet the requirements of the legislation.
- iii. Not to intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interest of health, safety or welfare in the pursuance of any relevant statuary provision.

No Smoking

- In order to protect the health of employees, patients and visitors, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust operates a No Smoking Policy. Therefore smoking is prohibited in all of the Trusts buildings, grounds and all Trust-owned or leased vehicles.

Equality and Diversity

- To ensure that all duties are carried out to the highest possible standard, and in accordance with current quality initiatives within the area of work and the Trust Managing Diversity and Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy.
- To have a commitment to identifying and minimising risk, report all incidents and report to manager any risks, which need to be assessed.

Professional Registration

- All qualified / professional staff are required to adhere to the relevant Code of Practice (and other guidance issued by them). It is the responsibility of the individual concerned to keep professionally registered and updated in accordance with the requirements of the relevant Code of Practice and to follow guidance issues by the professional body.

Policies and Procedures

- The post holder is expected to comply with all relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines. Any contravention of the Trust Policies or managerial instruction may result in disciplinary action being initiated.

This post is subject to the terms and conditions of employment of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Person Specification

Skills & Abilities

- A thorough knowledge of substances and their effects
- Knowledge of harm reduction approaches to substance misuse
- Excellent communication skills, written and verbal
- Evidence of being able to effectively manage own caseload
- Experience of using routine outcome measurement (i.e. selecting and delivering tests)

Knowledge & Experience

- Experience of working with people with drug and alcohol comorbidities
- Experience of working with people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties
- Knowledge and experience of delivering drug and alcohol interventions
- Experience of using motivational interviewing techniques
- Personal experience of substance related difficulties
- Experience of assessment of substance misuse issues utilising interview and psychometric techniques

Qualifications

- Educated to GCSE level or equivalent
- Additional training qualification in specialist substance misuse work (e.g. NVQ level 4, HND, MSc
- Professional registration in a relevant healthcare field/specialty (e.g. nursing, Occupational Therapy, Psychology)

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

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