Senior Mental Health Practitioner (Band 6) - Community CAMHS - Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

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Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Senior Mental Health Nurse to join our multidisciplinary team. 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 (CYPMH) problems within the THRIVE Framework for service delivery.

The post holder will be expected to provide interventions, advice, consultation and supervision to both colleagues and external partner agencies in line with THRIVE and clinical competency.

This post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will demonstrate an attitude which respects and values service users and their carers.

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:

1. Promote safe practices
2. Value the aims of service users
3. Work in partnership and offer meaningful choice
4. Be optimistic about the possibilities of meaningful change
5. Value social inclusion

The team promotes the Thrive model of service delivery and is continually developing innovative and creative practice - the successful candidate will share our enthusiasm and hardworking approach.

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and is also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce costs as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL
To hold a caseload of both specialist and generic work depending on clinical competence and experience. To undertake assessments, treatment and consultation work based upon a conceptual framework and employing research-based evidence.

1. 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.
2. Undertake risk assessments and care plans accordingly, in line with the THRIVE framework.
3. To work in ways that are sensitive to the needs of children and young people from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
4. To be responsible for the screening of referrals to children and Young People’s services.
5. To participate directly in the team's duty rotas.
6. To exercise responsibility and autonomy, within supervisory, managerial and accountability structures, for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients.
7. To deliver care co-ordination, ensuring effective assessment, care planning and risk management processes are maintained.
8. To produce a clinical formulation and intervention plan founded on evidence-based practice in cooperation with the child, young person and carers.
9. To hold responsibility for standards of clinical practice within the area of specialist knowledge.
10. 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.
11. To provide consultation, advice and guidance to junior colleagues.
12. To promote effective multi-agency work.
13. To contribute theoretical knowledge to the process of managing risk within the multi-agency network.
14. Undertake risk management for all children including the protective and risk factors present in the network of significant relationships.
15. Identify and respond appropriately to child protection issues, as described within the guidelines of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and Northwest Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust safeguarding policies.
16. Maintain clear and comprehensive electronic clinical records, ensuring information is accurate and complies with Data Protection Act and professional body and Trust standards.
17. To engage with using routine outcome measures as clinically appropriate including their use in clinical practice and inputting data into clinical records.
18. 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.

1. Attend Child Protection Case conferences as a representative from children and young people’s mental health services.
2. Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information to children, young people and families and to other professionals within young people’s services.
3. Communicate effectively with children, young people and their carers, when in crisis and in challenging family situations.
4. Organise and facilitate multi-agency meetings and reviews.
5. Elicit highly sensitive information using engagement/communication skills which are appropriate to the young person’s stage of development.
6. Work as part of an integrated multi-professional team, ensuring good communication and working relationships with other professionals.
7. Provide written reports detailing the progress of the mental health intervention.

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

1. To provide training to other professionals to improve mental health knowledge and skills in line with the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services.
2. To provide specific training and/or presentations to other agencies, statutory and voluntary, and promote and deliver specialist training programmes.
3. To contribute to training placements for a range of professional disciplines from different backgrounds.
4. Work collaboratively with partner agencies within the principles of THRIVE.
5. Maintain registration/accreditation requirements in accordance with the appropriate professional body.
6. Be accountable for own clinical practice and professional behaviour.

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

1. Contribute to the service’s evidence-based practice by engaging with audits and evaluations as appropriate.
2. To contribute to recruitment processes by assisting with shortlisting, interviewing and the induction of recruited staff.
3. Support the workload of colleagues within the service through co-working practices.
4. 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.

1. To contribute to planning and implementing systems for evaluation and monitoring of therapeutic practice and outcomes of clinical work within the service.
2. Participate in research, evaluation and audit in response to the clinical and professional interest of the post.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
To receive and engage in regular clinical supervision in accordance with Trust Clinical Governance Standards.

1. Contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice through active participation in internal and external CPD training.
2. Contribute to the development of best practice in the service by taking part in regular supervision and appraisal.
3. Maintain professional body registration.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Core Profession Social Work or Nurse and Up to date Professional Registration (to be maintained).

Knowledge/Experience

• Experience of working with CAMHS.
• Experience of mentorship, supervision and co-ordination of staff.
• Experience of Care Planning process.
• Working in a multi-agency framework.
• Demonstrate a contribution to change management process.
• Experience in positive leadership of a team.
• Demonstrate experience of problem-solving approaches.
• Recovery Model.
• Mental Health Act (1983).
• Effective Care Coordination.
• Relevant National policies and guidance.
• Evidence-based and reflective practice.
• Mental Capacity Act.
• Vulnerable Adults Procedure and Child Protection.

Values

• Accountability.
• Support.
• High professional standards.
• Responsive to service users.
• Engaging leadership style.
• Transparency and honesty.
• Discreet.
• Change-oriented.

Skills

• Demonstrate sound leadership qualities and an understanding of management styles.
• Understanding of quality and change in the clinical setting.
• Ability to delegate and coordinate.
• Ability to work to deadlines.
• Ability to utilise assessment skills and tools effectively.
• Ability to communicate in a variety of settings.
• Ability to maintain accurate and up-to-date clinical records.
• Able to present factual information and refer questions to others where appropriate.
• Able to deal with sensitive issues with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to develop effective interpersonal relationships with colleagues.
• Ability to identify and minimise risk effectively.

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We celebrate diversity and promote equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and particularly encourage applications from ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification.

Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.

Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email recruitment@merseycare.nhs.uk to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.

We reserve the right to close any vacancy earlier than advertised in exceptional circumstances once we have received a high volume of applications.

The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

FULFIL YOUR POTENTIAL AND SPREAD YOUR WINGS WITH MERSEY CARE

At Mersey Care, our commitment to ‘perfect care’ lies at the heart of everything we do. You’ll be joining one of the most innovative and progressive NHS trusts in the country.

You’ll have a home in the North West of England where your work/life balance is respected and working from sites easily commutable from Liverpool, Manchester, North Wales and Cheshire with many roles operating a hybrid working system.