What is a community navigator?
A community navigator gives people a chance to explore opportunities in their area and become more involved with people, groups, and activities. They work hard towards helping individuals build and maintain relationships with voluntary, community, and social enterprises in their local area.
Community navigators work hard to make sure that everyone gets the support they need and want by exploring a range of options and deciding which option best fits that particular client. Community navigation is crucial in making sure people are connected to support structures within public services and the wider community.
What is the difference between a community navigator and a wellbeing navigator?
Initially the NHS established the role of community navigators to work within specialized mental health services and support individuals suffering from complex depression or anxiety.
Now the field of community navigation has expanded and can support individuals with a range of needs across the community. Sometimes they can be referred to as community navigators, wellbeing navigators, care navigators, or wellbeing workers. Despite the various names used for a community navigator, they all work hard to link people up with relevant community resources.
They are known to help individuals with a wider variety of needs and help with any wider social determinant of health that could be impacting an individual's day-to-day life.
A community navigator uses a collaborative front door approach so they can work closely with NHS services, mental health teams, GPs, social services, housing associations, voluntary groups and other social enterprise organisations. They are the front door professionals who gather the information needed to make decisions about which pathways individuals should follow and refer them to specialist help when needed.
Through working collaboratively with other professionals in the community, a community navigator can ensure residents in a local council not only feel more involved in a community, but that their health and wellbeing improve too.
What are the aims of community navigators?
Even though a community navigator will be helping to support individuals with a variety of needs, it is still encouraged that a combination of aims and principles are followed to ensure the best quality of care.
These include:
1. Being socially focused
It is essential community navigators focus on supporting individuals to enhance their social world and make them feel more engaged and connected with others.
2. Be educated on your local area
For individuals to have a variety of options it is imperative community navigators know the community they work in and continually seek to develop their knowledge further to connect individuals to resources that will help achieve their goals.
3. Be solution-focused
Always use a future-focused approach to look for positive solutions rather than concentrating on the past or what is preventing the person moving forward. Ensure all support is unique to the individual and it focuses on their needs, wants, and goals.
4. Be collaborative
You must work collaboratively with the person and get them involved to build their independence instead of doing everything for them.
One thing to remember is every individual requiring community navigation will be different. Applying these work ethics and working with other community and healthcare professionals will help to arrange the most effective and appropriate care for the individual without putting them or yourself at risk.
What does a community navigator do?
For a community navigator to be successful they provide support in three main ways:
- Reviewing participant’s existing social networks - E.g. who did they see and spend time with? Do they have a supportive network surrounding them?
- Support people to develop and use an action plan to reconnect individuals to the community- E.g., by providing information about available activities that match the individuals’ hobbies or interests
- Facilitate 2-3 group meetings running alongside their one-on-one support – These are centred and are run by the individuals that attend. There is no specific agenda, but it is a great opportunity for individuals to meet people that are suffering with similar problems to them, so they don’t feel alone.
Community Navigators salary – How much do they get paid?
Currently on average a community navigator will be paid approximately £19,000 per annum. However, those starting up may be on the lower bracket of £13,000 and those with more experience have been paid more than £29,000. Most of the time it comes down to experience.
In addition, some councils open up community navigator roles to volunteers who want to make a difference in their local community. These councils offer all the training and support needed and do not put on any pressure on anyone wanting to become one. Instead, they ask how many hours a week you would be willing to volunteer for.
When starting or considering becoming a community navigator having a positive outlook on life, taking time to learn about your local area, and what activities and support groups it has to offer is a great way to start. By taking time to research about your local area, it shows you have an interest and have used your initiative, and the more you know the more options you can provide to a potential individual.
Community Navigator – Top tips for best practice
Ultimately one of the main things community navigators must do is build great rapports with the organisations and the individuals they work with. Without this groundwork the support given to these individuals will never be successful and there is the risk of making an individual feel worse. Here are 9 top tips on how to ensure community navigators provide the best quality of care for the best outcomes.
1. Be optimistic and enthusiastic
Make sure individuals feel confident by highlighting their strengths and best qualities and ensure that if a coping strategy or an activity they have been referred to didn’t work, it is okay as everyone’s journey is different.
2. Be aware that you may be working with more vulnerable patients than others
Some individuals may be more vulnerable than others and sometimes your main communication will be with their family instead of just them.
3. Follow guidance and support from the NHS and specialist teams
For any specific advice or information, you may need on a mental health or long-term condition following guidance or asking for support from NHS Specialist teams is essential to better understand what options are best for a particular individual.
4. Know your local area
Having an excellent knowledge on the local area you are working in means you can connect individuals easier to different community resources that best suit their needs.
5. Signpost patients to medical, practical, and psychological sources of support when you need to
Remember community navigators direct and connect people to the best places to go it is not expected to always know all the answers.
6. Understand that each patient’s journey will be different
No one person's social prescribing journey is the same. Both goals and outcomes are often different. It is not always easy to compare results directly to one another.
7. Use Analytic tools
Using Analytic tools allows you to visualise the process of each patient to easily identify the progress they have made. This way when individual goals are very different you can compare against one major outcome (e.g., did they achieve their goal?)
8. Have excellent communication and listening skills
Being great at communication in health and social care allows you to continuously build relationships with organisations that could help build rapports with the individuals you are supporting.
9. Be clear and assertive about expectations from the start
All individuals and their families need to be aware how the process will work and how many hours of support they will receive over a period of time, but they can also have more if needed.
Here at Access Elemental Social Prescribing, we are aware of how difficult it can be to manage the data of all the different individuals you will be working with. We offer a solution to ensure a fully flexible referral pathway to suit yours and your patients’ needs.
Elemental Core provides robust reporting and analysis for all types of stakeholders to ensure tracking social prescribing journeys couldn’t be any easier.
Being a community navigator is a highly rewarding job and using social prescribing software will help reduce your admin time so more time can be spent on improving the health and wellbeing of residents in your local area. Contact us today and let us help you improve your local area’s social prescribing journeys.