Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Job overview

Warrington CYPMHS  has an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and experienced Mental Health Practitioner to come and join our well-established community team, specialising in Child and Young Person Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) in the Warrington Borough.

We are looking to appoint a permanent band 6, senior mental health practitioner.

As part of the role of a senior mental health practitioner, you would be tasked with the duty (referral management), assessments, case management and therapeutic intervention for children and young people (CYP).

Warrington CYPMHS has successfully implemented Thrive and works closely with our multi-agency partners throughout the Warrington borough. This includes working with CDC, education institutes and third-sector organisations, this is an important aspect of our work as we continue to strive for outstanding support for CYP and their families.

This post is subject to an enhanced with children’s and adult’s barred list Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check. We would welcome applications from experienced nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and non-core practitioners with mental health experience.

Main duties of the job

As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, the post holder will provide high standards of evidence based client centred care to children and young people with mental health problems within the THRIVE Framework for service delivery.

You will be expected to manage your own caseload, you will also provide clinical assessment and interventions to children, young people, their families and wider networks with complex mental health needs; in line with the THRIVE Framework.

You will be expected to provide duty (referral management) support when required.

Your role will include direct and indirect client work as well as consultation and liaison with other professionals around the specialist clinical area of CYPMHS.  You will be engaged in all levels of clinical responses such as urgent assessments.

You will be expected to work as a member of the CYPMHS Multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

CYPMHS is an exciting area of work that is always evolving with new research and innovation; As the post is identified within the CYPMH strategy, it is expected the role will continue to develop in line with national and local initiatives.

The post holder will embrace the core values of the organisation and adopt the principles of Recovery and THRIVE. These principles will recognise the need to:

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL To hold a caseload of both specialist and generic work dependant on clinical competence and  experience.

To undertake assessments, treatment and consultation work based upon a conceptual framework and employing research based evidence..

To provide direct therapeutic interventions in line with the grading of the post, including  assessments, formulation and therapeutic input into children, young people and families referred  into the service.

Undertake risk assessments and care plans accordingly, in line with the THRIVE framework

To work in ways that are sensitive to the needs of children and young people families from a  wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.

To be responsible for the screening of referrals to children and Young People’s services.

To participate directly in the teams duty rotas.

To exercise responsibility and autonomy, within supervisory, managerial and accountability  structures, for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients

To deliver care co-ordination, ensuring effective assessment, care planning and risk management processes are maintained.

Involve the views of children, their families, referring  agents and other professionals involved in the network of care including organising multi-agency  meetings.

To produce a clinical formulation and intervention plan founded on evidence based practice in co-operation with the child young person and carers

To hold responsibility for standards of clinical practice within area of specialist knowledge

To work jointly and collaboratively with other team members in order to enhance and  develop the provision of services to young people and their families.

To have an effective knowledge base of other modalities so as to engage and work effectively with colleagues in other disciplines.

To provide consultation, advice and guidance to junior colleague.

To promote effective multi-agency work. To contribute theoretical knowledge to the process of managing risk within the multi-agency network

Undertake risk management for all children including the protective and risk factors present in the network of significant relationships.

Identify and respond appropriately to child protection issues, as described with the guidelines of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and Northwest Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust safeguarding policies

Maintain clear and comprehensive electronic clinical records, to ensure information is accurate and complies with Data Protection Act and professional body and Trust standards.

To engage with using routine outcome measures as clinically appropriate including their use in clinical practice and inputting data into clinical records.

To work collaboratively with children, young people and their families and contribute to the  trust’s service user participation agenda.

COMMUNICATION  To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both multi and uni disciplinary care.

To effectively communicate professional opinions, verbally and in writing to other relevant professionals.

Attend Child Protection Case conferences as a representative from children and young people’s mental health services.

Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information to children, young people and families and to other professionals with in young people’s services.

Communicate effectively with children, young people and their carers, when in crisis and in challenging family situations

Organise and facilitate multi-agency meetings and reviews

Elicit highly sensitive information using engagement/ communication skills which are appropriate to the young person’s stage of development  Work, as part of an integrated multi professional team, ensuring good communication and working relationships with other professionals

Provide written reports detailing the progress of the mental health intervention.

TEACHING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION. Participate in regular supervision, engage in reflective practice and committed to continued  development.

To provide training to other professionals to improve mental health knowledge and skills in line the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services

To provide specific training and /or presentations to other agencies, statutory and voluntary, and promote and deliver specialist training programmes

To contribute to training placements for a range of professional disciplines from different background so that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to positive change.

To assess trainees competencies and write placement reports for trainees in line with Trust, professional body regulations

Work collaboratively with partner agencies within the principles of THRIVE.

This will include joint working; consultation; and training aiming to develop joint working across agencies.

Maintaining registration / accreditation requirements in accordance with the appropriate professional body in line with their professional qualification.

Be accountable for own clinical practice and professional behaviour

MANAGEMENT, POLICY AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT Identify priorities within and initiatives within the service and advice managers on the level of resources for service development.

Contribute to the service’s evidence based practice by engaging with audits and evaluations as appropriate

To contribute to recruitment processes by assisting with shortlisting, interviewing and the induction of recruited staff.

To support the workload of colleagues within the service through co-working practices.

Contribute to service developments.

RESEARCH AND SERVICE EVALUATION  To maintain an up to date knowledge of the evidence base in relation to mental health knowledge and other interventions.

To contribute to planning and implementing systems for evaluation and monitoring of therapeutic practice and outcomes of clinical work within the service.

Participate in research, evaluation and audit in response to the clinical and professional interest of the post, and to monitor standards, quality and consumer reaction to the provision of services in accordance with NICE guidance

Participate in appropriate audit. Quality assurance programmes and research as directed.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT To receive and engage in regular clinical supervision in accordance with Trust Clinical Governance Standards and the Code of Practice and ethical guidelines of professional body

To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice through active participation in internal and external CPD training in consultation with the post holders service manager to meet professional body requirements for CPD and   registration.

To contribute to the development of best practice in the service by taking part in regular supervision and appraisal and maintaining awareness of current developments in the field.

To maintain professional body registration.