Social Worker - Adults -Safeguarding

Location Tower Hamlets
Salary £28.00 - £31.00 per hour
Discipline
The Initial Assessment Team currently received a high number of Police Alerts, known as MERLINS, when the Police come into contact with an adult they think is vulnerable and would benefit from social care support, signposting or advice. The issues reported range from mental health crisis, abuse, exploitation to addiction. The Initial Assessment received around 100 MERLIN reports a week.
At present when a report is received which raises concerns about an adult’s alcohol or drug use as the primary issue then the report is forwarded to the adults GP.
The Tower Hamlets Partnership has successfully secured funding from Home Office/OHID to deliver Project ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery), an innovative and targeted project to reduce drug-related offending, drug deaths and prevalence of drug use.
The Home Office have approved funding to hire a Project ADDER Social Worker in the Initial Assessment Team of Adult Social Care. The primary role of this social worker will be to assist those adults coming to the notice of Police with addictions into treatment (RESET). To do this the worker will need to skilled in drug and alcohol interventions, assertive outreach, and motivational interviewing, Solution Focused Approach, and other evidence-based approaches. The worker will also be able to assist adults into treatment known to other social workers in the Initial Assessment Team. For example, a high number of adults experiencing, or perpetrating abuse have addictions and the support of the ADDER SW will be a useful intervention in reducing aggravating factors to the abuse. The ADDER SW will not be expected to hold a usual case load but will be expected to complete care and safeguarding interventions where required in the support of their service users (adults with addictions).

By providing a more robust and skilled approach in going out to service users and helping them into treatment we aim to contribute to:
? A reduction in drug related reoffending amongst prolific offenders within local areas
? Increase in the numbers of drug users engaging in treatment as well as increases
in those achieving and sustaining recovery;
? Increase in the number of people moving into paid employment from drug
treatment services;
? A reduction in drug supply within pilot areas;
? Reduced costs for local health services and police forces due to lower health and
crime harms, and lower costs to the criminal justice system (as fewer people are
dealt with by the courts);
? Increase in number of young and vulnerable people safeguarded.