Jessica Joyce Ventura

The General Medicine Social Worker position focuses on providing a comprehensive social work service to patients who meet the criteria for in-patient Social Work support; including but not limited to people with disabilities, NDIS supports, ED, mental health conditions; those experiencing homelessness, trauma; requiring end of life, bereavement and adjustment to illness support; comprehensive psychosocial assessment, crisis support, referrals to external services and psychoeducation.

Completed psychosocial assessments with inpatient and outpatient clients to determine their needs and the support that they require based on a client-centered model.

·Referred clients to various community support and services

· Liaise with the multidisciplinary team (MDT), such as doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists, to maximise the optimisation of the client’s health and ensure safe discharge planning.

· Provided advocacy, counselling, and crisis intervention skills to patients to minimise or alleviate any stress-related concerns so they could focus on their recovery and wellbeing.

· Attended the whiteboard and MDT meeting to provide updates and address the address the concerns of the patients in a real-time manner.

· Participated in the length of stay meeting with the hospital executives and provided any social work-related concerns to identify and address any barriers to a safe hospital discharge plan.

·Consultation is made with different professionals and organisational stakeholders, such as the Disability Strategy Unit, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, My Aged Care, and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, to seek guidance or as part of the escalation process for any complex cases.

• Completed psychosocial assessments, referring patients to different community resources, attending training sessions and workshops (professional development), liaising with the multidisciplinary team and community organizations, actively participating in whiteboard sessions and multidisciplinary team meeting, completed daily statistics and data entry, referring clients to resources and services available, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) recording, participated in weekly supervision and reflection, and fortnightly theory to practice.

• Completed psychosocial assessment, providing emotional support to residents and family members, completed a cultural awareness package to increase awareness and address cultural gap in GHA, attended family meetings to ensure social work knowledge can be shared and providing support to residents and family members, participated in weekly supervision with external supervisor and agency supervisor, facilitated engagement activities of residents, facilitated admission of resident to care, advocated for team members in accessing social work services when they encountered confronting situation affecting their personal and work matters.

• Providing support to persons living with dementia and other mental health illness.
• Supervised daily living activities such as bathing, dressing, meals.
• Assisted in developing individualised care plans for each resident.
• Collaborated closely with other healthcare professionals including doctors and nurses regarding patient care plans.
• Participated in team meetings to discuss new developments in residential care practices.
• Interacted with family members to provide updates on resident's condition.
• Encouraged social interaction among residents through group activities and events.
• Providing advocacy for the client's rights and best interest, supporting them using a strength based model and focusing on their ability.