Band 6 Specialist Practitioner (Later Life) - Clevedon

Job overview

The North Somerset CIT team provides specialist mental health support for older adults experiencing severe and enduring mental health difficulties as well as those who have dementia. Our focus is enabling individuals to maintain independence and quality of life within their own homes and communities.

Our team is multi disciplinary and integrated with the local authority. We are experienced later life psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, and support workers, all committed to delivering person and family/carer centred care.

We work closely with partner agencies, sharing expertise and resources

As a Band 6 CPN, you will:

• Provide comprehensive mental health assessments and interventions for older adults.
• Work collaboratively with service users, carers, and partner agencies to promote wellbeing.
• Contribute to Personal Wellbeing Plans (PWPs) and safety assessments, ensuring safe and effective practice.
• Facilitate the discharges of older adults from psychiatric and general wards.
• Support the development of junior staff and students within the team.

This is an opportunity to join a supportive and innovative team, where your skills and experience will make a real difference to the lives of older adults. This opportunity with North Somerset CIT Team would suit applicants with interest, background or experience supporting Later Life service users, their families and carers and those experiencing physical complexities.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties of the Role:

• Comprehensive Assessment: Undertake robust mental health assessments for older adults, including risk assessment, mental state examination, and identification of needs.
• Care Planning: Formulate and implement Personal Wellbeing Plans that promote independence, and wellbeing, while mitigating identified risks.
• Interventions: Deliver a range of evidence-based interventions, including psychosocial approaches, non-pharmacological strategies, and pharmacological interventions where appropriate.
• Duty Role: Participate in the team’s duty rota, responding to urgent calls and referrals, providing timely advice, triage, and support to service users, carers, and professionals.
• Crisis Management: Offer rapid response to individuals in crisis to prevent escalation and avoid unnecessary hospital admission.
• Collaborative Working: Liaise with families, carers, and partner agencies to ensure coordinated, wrap-around care.
• Monitoring and Review: Regularly review PWPs and interventions, adapting as needed to meet changing needs.
• Professional Development: Support the development of junior staff and students, contributing to a learning culture within the team.

Please note that the North Somerset CIT Team covers a wide geographical area, so applicants need to hold a valid driving licence and have access to their own transport.

For a full list of duties and responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

In a wide range of situations and locations, undertake the full range of activities required to deliver comprehensive mental health assessment, for service users, who may be distressed and in crisis. This will include:

• The use of standardised assessment tools.
• Identification of history, strengths and aspirations.
• Assessment of mental state.
• Identification of impact of culture and diversity.
• Assessment of functional needs.
• Identification and assessment of the needs of family and carer.
• Identification and evaluation of risk.
• Consideration and assessment of physical health.
• Identification of complicating factors.
• Identifying and ensuring specialist involvement where required.
• Identifying the interventions and treatments required to enable positive change.
• Identify Social Care needs.
• Identify Safeguarding and public protection needs.
• Assessment of mental capacity under the Mental Capacity A.

To be responsible for developing delivering and reviewing comprehensive and complex treatment programmes using appropriate frameworks in line with evidence–based practice, including strategies to manage risk for service users with complex needs and carers, bringing in other resources as required.

To plan, deliver and evaluate defined, specialist therapeutic interventions as indicated in the assessment process, in line with personal plans, including to service users who maybe on other caseloads. This might include:

• Individual or group therapeutic intervention.
• Psychosocial interventions.
• Motivational and coping enhancement strategies.
• Medication management.
• Interventions under the Mental Health Act.

To deliver a range of defined activities/interventions to improve the carer’s ability to support the service user and to enable them in their relationship with the service user.

To develop and maintain good partnership working with other services throughout all treatment episodes, including regular liaison within Primary Health Care Team, inpatient and intensive services, day services, voluntary sector and with nominated carers/advocates.

In collaboration with service users and carers, to be responsible for facilitating the development of comprehensive crisis plans, rapid access plans, advance statements etc, involving other agencies such as primary care etc where appropriate.

To personally build and lead others to build, hope inspiring relationships with service users, which acknowledge the personal journey of each person, and focus on strengths and aspirations to allow the creation of meaningful personal plans.

To be responsible for maintaining own workload, as well as planning the workload of others, on a day-to-day basis, ensuring that time is prioritised effectively, utilising electronic resources such as diaries/scheduling.

To be responsible for the protection of individuals from abuse and harm in line with local safeguarding policies and procedures, including working with others in the planning development and review of protection plans.

Coordinating and undertaking protective interventions which may be required in the protection of others, as outline in the protection plan, taking individual action where indicated.

Personally leading others to collaboratively and sensitively work with individuals, with a range of mental health needs to develop skills to manage their own health, in accordance with their personal plan, by actively promoting and using approaches which are affirming, build on strengths, identify past positive experience and success, and use small steps to move towards the person's goal.

Undertake active clinical leadership and supervision within the team, covering for the manager and colleagues as required.

To maintain the single health and social care record, ensuring both paper and electronic records are kept up to date in accordance with professional and organisational standards.

Report and record within agreed timeframes, all activity relating to information reporting and performance requirements.

To participate in management, caseload and clinical supervision in accordance with trust policy.

To provide mentoring/ training for others in relevant practice areas, according to professional requirements, taking a collaborative approach to practice development and evidence-based care. Specifically this means providing a safe and effective learning environment for the mentoring and supervising of students, participating in their learning objectives and assessments.

Demonstrate responsibility for developing own practice in line with professional qualifications and for contributing to the development of others, by making use of and providing, effective feedback, supervision, coaching and appraisal.

To adhere to professional codes of conduct ensuring required skills and competencies required are maintained.

Monitor and maintain health, safety and security of self and others, undertaking assessments and taking appropriate action where required. Develop own knowledge and practice, and contribute to the development of others, making use of available feedback, supervision and appraisal to identify appropriate areas of development for this work role, taking responsibility for accessing identified learning and training opportunities.

Lead, maintain and participate in practices which enable effective team working.

To participate in local arrangements where required to manage unexpected staff absences.

This post is open to newly qualified social workers. In line with trust policy, all newly qualified social workers will be recruited initially at Band 5 level, regardless of advertised role banding. All NQSWs are expected to successfully complete their ASYE within 2 years of employment, unless there are exceptional circumstances in which case it may be agreed to extend this for a further 2 years.

On successful completion of the ASYE, for which you will be given full support of an experienced Social Worker as well as Divisional Social Work Lead, and peer support from other ASYE candidates, you will then be eligible to progress to a Band 6 position.

If you have been appointed to an advertised Band 6 role this will be an automatic progression, following confirmation of your successful completion. If you have been appointed to a Band 5 you will then be eligible to apply for a subsequent Band 6 vacancy.

Please see attached Job Description file for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.