Social Worker/Counselor at the Rehabilitation Group in Linköping University Hospital

Do you want to make a difference for patients every day while developing as a counselor in a safe and competent environment?

We are looking for a social worker/counselor who wants to be part of our dedicated team at the rehabilitation group working at Linköping University Hospital.

Our Offer

For life ahead. Region Östergötland has high ambitions and a responsible mission. It is about health and care, about the development of our region, and about those who live and stay here. We want to continue to be at the forefront, with care, research, and education. This means daring to think anew – and having the best employees. Therefore, we offer unique opportunities for further learning and invest in modern environments with effective systems and tools. Many of us meet patients and relatives, while others create the conditions for life-saving interventions. With us, fantastic people work towards the same goal – to make a real difference, and for life ahead.

We offer a permanent position in the rehabilitation group where your placement will be in section LAH (Hospital-Connected Home Care) within the primary care clinic at Linköping University Hospital. The rehabilitation group consists of 32 employees, including five counselors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists. The unit's mission includes interventions in the primary care clinic/LAH and geriatric emergency care clinic, neurology clinic, emergency department, and acute internal medicine clinic. We strive to offer development and career opportunities where you receive professional development based on your needs and focus.

Here you can read about our career ladder for counselors and your benefits with us.

Job Description

In the role of counselor at LAH, you are part of a multidisciplinary team where you support and guide patients and relatives based on the psychosocial and social legal factors that arise in connection with life-threatening illness. You converse with patients and relatives in their homes or on the ward. Much contact also occurs via phone calls. The conversations can be individual, couple, or family sessions. Relatives can be of all ages, from minor children to older adults. Some conversations you have alone, while others you have together with, for example, doctors, nurses, or other professionals. You also have many external contacts with other authorities and other collaboration partners based on the needs of the patient and relatives.

One part of the job involves providing conversation support to patients and relatives, focusing on helping the person and family cope with and process the illness situation and the crisis, loss, and grief it may entail. It often involves both psychological, relational, and existential needs in the conversations.

The other part of the job involves social counseling. This can include information about powers of attorney, seeking financial foundation funds and insurance, participating in needs assessments with case managers from the municipality or social insurance agency, writing applications for the need for a guardian, searching for relatives, etc. The work is both planned and more urgent in nature. You need to be prepared to constantly assess and prioritize the needs of patients and relatives and to re-prioritize when needs change.

Work Group

At LAH, we base our work on the principle of holistic care, which is built on mutual respect and understanding of the patient's self-esteem and will. All symptoms need to be alleviated, whether they are physical, psychological, spiritual, or emotional. It is about interventions to increase quality of life and well-being. The focus is on creating a professional relationship with the patient and their relatives. The clinic's employees form a workgroup of different ages, backgrounds, and professional experiences and competencies. In the team, there are colleagues with specialist expertise in palliative care, oncology, emergency care, open health and medical care, geriatrics, and gynecology.

Your daily workplace is at LAH, but you also have colleagues in the counseling section of the rehabilitation group where you collaborate during absences and have joint supervision.

About You

As you work in constant dialogue with patients and colleagues, it is a requirement that you have good knowledge of the Swedish language, both spoken and written. You have a degree in social work and experience in psychosocial treatment work. Experience in health care and/or further education in the field is advantageous. A driver's license is required as the work is largely performed in the patient's home.

As a person, you are culturally aware, empathetic, and adaptable to changing circumstances. You need to feel comfortable working with seriously ill patients at the end of life and their relatives. It is important that you can contain strong emotions and reactions and manage to stay in difficult situations. For this position, we are looking for someone who is flexible. Flexibility for us means being able to adapt to the current situation and change focus, which is crucial as unpredictable events occur daily. You are loyal and express a positive attitude towards your work. You have good collaborative skills and are curious about new challenges. You also need to have good knowledge of and ability to collaborate with various care/support initiatives in society. You enjoy working in a team where all professional categories learn from each other. We work closely together and need good communication to successfully solve the tasks we encounter in everyday life. Therefore, this position suits you if you thrive in collaboration and are receptive and communicative with both colleagues, patients, and relatives. Great emphasis will be placed on personal maturity.

Application and Employment

We work with ongoing selection, so please submit your application as soon as possible. Prior to employment in a patient-facing role within Region Östergötland, you will need to fill out a form (https://ledsys.lio.se/Document/Document?DocumentNumber=54500).

Warm welcome to submit your application! If you need help registering in the system, contact customer service Support and Service, 010-103 60 00, during office hours.

To staffing, placement, and recruitment companies and to you as a seller: We kindly but firmly decline direct contact with staffing, placement, and recruitment companies as well as other external actors and sellers of additional job advertisements. Region Östergötland has contracted agreements.