Assistant Chaplain/Assistant Pastoral Support Worker

We have 2 part time posts (22.5 hours per week, 0.6 FTE) available across the Trust offering the opportunity to work in a variety of mental health inpatient services to increase and enhance the spiritual & pastoral care to service users, carers and staff within Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The Spiritual and Pastoral Care Team provides religious, spiritual and non-religious pastoral care to service users, carers and staff throughout Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

This innovative team is led by the Director of Social Inclusion and Participation with Co-ordinating Chaplains managing the provision with their service supported by Chaplains/Pastoral Support Workers and in some areas religious & non-religious Volunteers.

Shortlisting date is planned for 6th June 2023

Interview date is planned for 15th June 2023

The Trust has a wide range of mental health, older adult, learning disability, drugs & alcohol, physical health community services and secure forensic units across Merseyside. The postholders will be based at sites across the Trust including Winwick, Maghull & Southport. There will be a requirement to travel throughout the Trust footprint.

The post holder will have responsibility for providing pastoral and spiritual or religious care as required, and where appropriate offering, or referring service users to faith based ministry and worship or to appropriate non-religious care and support networks. The post holder will work in collaboration with other members of the team, mental health professionals, local faith representatives and professional visitors in order to provide or enable the provision of appropriate religious, spiritual & pastoral care to people of all faith and those of no religion or belief. They will be expected to support the team’s work around quality and innovation.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 11 million people.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Applicants must be either: -

An established and active member of any recognised faith tradition They must be experienced in spiritual and pastoral care, of “good standing” in their tradition in accordance with the Practical Guide – Endorsement of NHS Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious (Chaplaincy) Staff and Volunteers and formally accredited to lead worship within their tradition.

OR

An experienced Pastoral Support Worker accredited, or with the ability to be accredited, as a member in good standing by the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network in accordance with the Practical Guide – Endorsement of NHS Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious (Chaplaincy) Staff and Volunteers with a cohesive naturalistic and non-religious system of values and beliefs that are serious, genuinely and sincerely held and worthy of respect in a democratic society.

Knowledge and awareness of professional boundaries is essential. Applicants will be flexible and imaginative innovators capable of implementing new ideas and practices for enhancing, spiritual, religious and non-religious care in mental health settings.

All candidates must have excellent communication skills both verbal and written and a good standard of IT capability. All candidates must be committed to working in a multi-faith and belief, ecumenical and inter-disciplinary context.