Counselling jobs in Swanage

JOB TITLE:

Social Prescribing Link Worker (ARRS)

SALARY:

The starting salary is £25,307 with the top of the scale being £28,420 per annum for working full-time 37.5 hours per week.

Pro rata this is £12,653 - £14,210 per annum for working part-time 18.75 hours per week.

Salary increases annually where incremental points are awarded until the top of the salary scale is reached.

CONTRACT:

Permanent

HOURS:

Part-time 18.75 hours per week

LOCATION:

Working with Poole Bay & Bournemouth, mixture of working from surgery, home and in the community

BASED:

This role will include attending GP Surgeries in the Poole Bay & Bournemouth area combined with homeworking. Therefore, the ideal candidate must live within easy travel distance to the East Dorset area.

CLOSING DATE:

11 November 2026

INTERVIEW DATE:

20 November 2026

ABOUT US:

Help & Care

Starting as a small charity in 1985, Help & Care has since flourished and grown into an organisation that promotes dignity and independence for all people. We offer services in Dorset and across the Southcoast of the UK.

Help & Care has a vision of people living the lives they choose.  Everything we do is because someone, somewhere, wanted something different and better out of life and we were determined to help them to make it happen.

Dorset Self-Management Service

Our Dorset Self-Management Service are a team of 60 staff, consisting of Health & Wellbeing Coaches and Link Workers. The Team provides a service across the Dorset region, supporting people with long term health conditions to help them feel more confident in self-managing on a day-to-day basis.

The Dorset Self-Management Service work alongside GP Surgeries across Dorset to signpost people to the relevant support within the local community.

We are looking to recruit to the post of Primary Care Network - Link Worker to work within the Poole and Bournemouth Primary Care Network multidisciplinary healthcare team.

This is an exciting opportunity for those that wish to pursue a career in the Health & Social Care sector.

You will be providing one-to-one personalised support to local people in order to help meet their health and wellbeing needs, thus helping to improve their quality of life.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Providing personalised specialist assessment, information, signposting, support and follow-up for patients
• Managing and prioritising a caseload, in accordance with the needs, priorities and support required by individuals in the caseload
• Providing information regarding services and benefits available and, where appropriate, assisting patients in accessing them
• Being proactive in reaching patients who would benefit from information and support to minimise admission to hospital and/or help prevent crisis situations
• Promoting and raising patient and Primary Care awareness of the service and participating in local events as required
• Supporting those who may experience additional barriers to accessing the service

REQUIREMENTS:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Excellent organisational skills
• An ability to act with integrity and to manage complex client conversations within clear boundaries of the role
• Experience of working in a person-centred way
• Experience of working in community or support-based roles, in a paid or voluntary capacity
• An ability to support people to identify their own goals, share information and resources to enable them to achieve them and review the impact and outcomes for the person after this support
• An understanding of safeguarding and risk assessments
• An awareness of the wider non-clinical issues that are important for people with long-term conditions and carers
• A strong working knowledge or ability to learn of local organisations and resources (health, social care, voluntary and community and other sectors including housing and welfare)
• Case management skills are desirable
• Knowledge of the evidence base and development of social prescribing and person-centred approaches in the UK is desirable

BENEFITS:

• Annual Leave: 28 days per annum plus bank holidays. (Pro-rata for part -time employees)
• Birthday Leave: All Staff receive their birthday off work as paid leave (1 day)
• Buy Extra Annual Leave: Staff can purchase up to one week’s extra annual leave in addition to their annual entitlement
• Flexible working: A range of flexible working arrangements
• Employee Health & Wellbeing Service: Offering healthcare treatments, money towards the cost of dental treatment, eye tests and prescriptions, 24-hour access to GP helpline, discounted gym memberships, 24-hour counselling service (either via telephone or face-to-face) and much more
• ‘Cycle to Work’ Scheme
• Training: Access to training/personal development
• Hybrid working: Where you will be working from home for the majority of time
• Blue Light Card (Discounts from large national retailers to local businesses across categories such as holidays, cars, days out, fashion, gifts, insurance, phones, and many more)

To find out more information, and to see an in-depth Job Description and Person Specification for this role, please visit our website vacancy page where you will be able to view and download a copy of these documents.

Copy and paste this into your search engine:

https://www.helpandcare.org.uk/work-with-us/vacancies/

To apply, please submit your CV along with a personal statement explaining why you feel you would be suited to this role. If you are currently based outside Dorset, please explain how you will relocate or commute if appointed.

If you would like a discussion about this role, please contact us on .

The role is mostly home working, however, there will be a requirement to travel to our Head Office in Christchurch, Dorset on occasion for meetings as well as possible travel to other areas of Dorset.

To work from home, the successful candidate must ensure they have the correct workstation set up in line with the guidance set out by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and an assessment will be carried out to verify the workstation set up.

The nature of the job will require travel in the post holder’s car for which expenses will be paid as set by the Trustee Management Board.

An enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) police record check in relation to vulnerable adults (previously known as CRB check) is required for this role.

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer and therefore offer an inclusive workplace. We strive to create a working environment that reflects the communities that we support; we therefore welcome applications from all members of the community.

We encourage you to apply early as we reserve the right to close this job advert sooner than the date specified, if we receive a suitable number of candidates.

Pay: £12,653.00-£14,210.00 per year

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Dorset