Job overview

On Silverbirch, we are looking for highly motivated Activities Coordinator to join our friendly team. The Activities Coordinator work as part of the wider MDT and help to deliver evidence-based interventions to service users in the acute phase of their illness. They have a particular focus on meaningful activity and therapeutic engagement. In this role, you will coordinate and administrate the ward’s program of interpersonal engagement by focusing on structured, meaningful activity. You will be required to be creative and utilise your initiative to adapt to each detainee through our services to provide this.

The Activities co ordinator role is vital to promoting service users emotional wellbeing, social engagement, and creative expression. Your goal is to provide meaningful, inclusive, and therapeutic activities that support personalised service users recovery as they are on different journey. Flexibility, compassion, and creativity are key in this role.

There is an expectation that you will be required to work evenings and weekends alongside full support of the nursing team. Flexibilities within this will be considered. We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic individual who is able to promote relevant and interesting activities on the unit to aid the Safewards Initiative and continue improvements to maintain a reduction in restrictive practice. You will need to be flexible and be able to assist with the Health Care Support Worker ward duties if and when required.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities 

·        Plan and facilitate groups or individual activities

·        Promote participation and encourage patient input in activity planning

·        Collaborate with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) to tailor activities to patient needs,

·        Maintain and update the Activities Board with upcoming sessions

·        Record attendance, feedback, and any significant observations on the Rio progress notes

·        Manage and maintain inventory of activity supplies

·        Create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all service users.

 Understanding Patient Needs / Interest

·        Observe behaviour and engage in conversations to understand preferences (Conversations are very helpful to understand how to meet them at the point of their needs)

·         Adjust activities to suit present day energy levels, patient attention spans, and preference.

·        Consult with nurses, occupational therapists, and other staff to identify patient needs

·        Be mindful of triggers other things that can escalate issues, be mindful of individual care plans

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. 

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.  

AWP is committed to support and create a positive research and evidence-based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.