Practitioner - Criminal Justice Mental Health Service

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled practitioner, with an interest and/or experience in the criminal justice system, to be an integral part of both a court liaison and diversion team and a police custody suite assessment team. You will be working with both adults and young people, within what is a very interesting and rewarding area of care that is continuing to develop further.

As a front-line service, each day can be different in what is often a busy and unpredictable environment.

The service ethos is to proactively intervene at the earliest possible opportunity in the Criminal Justice system pathway, so that those in need of support receive appropriate care and treatment in a timely fashion.

The people we provide services to come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because it makes us better at what we do. No matter your age, gender, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, religion or sexual orientation, if you are committed to generating the best possible outcomes for our service users then we want to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

As a Liaison and Diversion Practitioner, some of the responsibilities you can expect will include:

• Proactive screening of cases in police custody or at court.
• On-the-day triaging and assessment - including full mental state examinations, risk assessment and gathering of background history for individuals presenting with a wide variety of established or suspected needs. These can include anxiety, challenging behaviour, serious mental illness, personality disorder, neurodiversity needs speech and language difficulties, substance misuse and associated social issues within police custody.
• Responding to detainees who present with urgent and non-urgent clinical issues with appropriate interventions. Interventions may include onward referrals for a Mental Health Act assessment, advice, signposting or making onward referrals into primary, secondary or voluntary care agencies.
• Providing advice, information and support to custody/court personnel.
• Provision of written assessment summaries to police, court and other relevant agencies in the criminal justice pathway.
• Liaising with CAMHS, YOT practitioners or other relevant agencies whilst screening young people.
• Recording data for regular auditing and evaluation.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To work with colleagues, police, custody healthcare staff and other custody/court staff (inc Appropriate Adults) in order to provide a comprehensive and integrated vulnerability screening and assessment service.

To demonstrate strong assessment skills, solid problem solving and decision making and developing holistic and patient centred care plans whilst also being able to recognise when they may need senior clinical/managerial advice/support and to actively seek this in the clinical setting.

To facilitate appropriate signposting to/referring on, or interventions in close collaboration and liaison with other relevant agencies. Developing a good working knowledge and understanding of local services and pathways will be important in this role. Knowledge of clinical pathways will enable the applicant in the ambition of facilitating a persons diversion away from the criminal justice pathway at the earliest possible opportunity. (The term ‘diversion’ being used in its widest possible sense and includes urgent and non-urgent pathways).

Demonstrate effective communication with colleagues, partners and stakeholders and with people in vulnerable groups. The candidates approach will be inclusive, collaborative and helpful. Communication types include verbal, written and digital methods of communication. Competent digital skills will be needed for this role.

To actively promote relationships with colleagues that support open communication and collaborative working, taking personal responsibility for one's contribution to this process at all times.

To maintain a high standard of written communication that is mindful of the readership and takes into account the legal context. Written work will also involve recording appropriate events and observations to evidence interventions.

Proactively seek service user feedback about their experiences of liaison and diversion to inform and shape our service.

Please see the combined job description and person specification for more details of the role.

it is a mandatory requirement that all staff working in a Police Custody suite, Magistrates or Crown Court must be a healthcare professional eligible to be a member of a healthcare regulatory body listed here: (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/professions-regulated-by-law-in-the-uk-and-their-regulators

IMPORTANT – this position is offered subject to a successful Police Vetting that will enable successful candidates to work in police custody locations. As such, you will be subjected to a significantly higher level of vetting than is standard.  This vetting is conducted by the Metropolitan Police. It is essentially a detailed background check of you and close family members.

Any criminal conviction is highly likely to result in a fail – another of the most essential criteria is that you are required to have resided in the UK for at least 3 years.

If vetting is unsuccessful, you will not be able to work in custody and therefore any job offer may be withdrawn.

Unfortunately the police vetting requirement is a lengthy process that could extend beyond the existing pre-employment checks that are conducted by Recruitment Services. If you are successful at interview and we wish to take forward your application, please be assured we are really keen to have you with us and we ask you for your patience with any undue delay that is outside our control.