Job summary
Senior Mental Health Practitioner or Registered Psychologist (band 7): Schools Link Worker
This is an exciting opportunity for WTE permanent post and fixed term post.
We are looking for mental health practitioners to join the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust. The mental health practitioner will be a member of the specialist, multi-disciplinary service. This role will support work in Liverpool to work with schools and multi agencies to support children, young people and their families collaboratively.
They will be based in the Mental Health Support Teams and will report to the MHST strategic clinical lead. Their primary role will be to act as a link for schools and colleges in Sefton (as per the recommendations of the 2017 Green Paper: Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision). They will provide rapid advice, consultation and signposting for children and young people aged 5-18.
We are looking for experienced individuals who have skills and experience in working with children and young people and with families from communities that may be at increased risk of social exclusion or marginalisation.
Main duties of the job
1. Provide specialist assessments of children and young people referred to the service group
2. Develop, implement and review a range of evidence based treatment plans informed by clinical assessment and the specific needs of the individual within their wider social context
3. Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of children/young people in the context of Care Aims and CAPA models
4. Provide specialist advice, guidance and consultation to other professional groups
5. Undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual children and young people and to provide advice to external agencies regarding appropriate risk
6. Act as care coordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under CPA
7. Effectively communicate with families and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person
8. Actively record all clinical outcomes.
9. Participate in the Service Group MDT as appropriate and at the direction of senior clinicians within the Team.
About us
Alder Hey has already earned our place as one of the world's leading children's hospitals, thanks to innovation and pioneering medical work. We treat 250,000 young patients a year and have a broad range of hospital and community services, serving the local population of children, as well as being a tertiary referral centre for children from across Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of Lancashire, Shropshire and North Wales. Every individual makes a valuable contribution and Alder Hey is proud of its long history of providing pioneering and innovative healthcare to children and young people. We are looking for motivated and enthusiastic candidates to join our dynamic and experienced CAMHS team.
Alder Hey is an equal opportunities employer, and our workforce is currently under-represented from people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and people with disabilities. We would welcome applications from people from diverse backgrounds as our ambition is that our workforce is fully reflective of the communities that we serve. Alder Hey is signed up to the disability confident scheme and we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the vacancy.
Job description
Job responsibilities
CLINICAL SUPERVISION/TRAINING/TEACHING
10. Receive regular clinical supervision in accordance with professional guidelines
11. Provide clinical supervision support to staff from own and other service groups/teams where appropriate
12. Contribute to the development and delivery of CPD programmes for own profession.
13. Develop skills in own area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and consultation.
14. Contribute to appropriate pre- and post-qualification training.
15. Clinical supervision support to staff from own and other service groups/teams where appropriate.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
16. Contribute to the development, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of the Service Groups operational policies and procedures.
17. Participate in MDT and multi-agency meetings
18. Share responsibility with other team members, as appropriate, for implementing service developments.
19. Contribute to the management of workloads of appropriate staff within the framework of the Service Group policies and procedures.
Person Specification
Knowledge
Essential
20. Some knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
21. Must demonstrate knowledge of the evidence base in their practice
22. Must demonstrate understanding of child development and psychosocial influences.
23. Must demonstrate a working understanding of systemic, psychodynamic and cognitive theories along with recognition of when each approach is appropriate.
24. Must demonstrate knowledge of audit and evaluation methodology
25. Must demonstrate knowledge of research methodology.
26. Must demonstrate an understanding of current government initiatives underpinning service developments.
27. Must demonstrate strong organisational skills
28. Must be able to demonstrate the ability to manage aspects of service development in line with government initiatives.
Desirable
29. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies in specific difficult to treat groups ( personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities, etc).
30. High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised therapies/interventions
Skills
Essential
31. Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups.
32. Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
33. Must demonstrate ability to autonomously managed own workload balance
Personal Attributes
Essential
34. Must demonstrate a commitment to the overall vision of the development of the professional group of CAMHS Workers.
35. Must demonstrate utilisation of professional development planning in own career progression.
36. Must show enthusiasm and appreciation for multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working.
37. Must demonstrate a professional manner.
38. Must demonstrate a high level of communication skills commensurate with the nature of clinical and professional contacts required of the post.
39. Accountable for own professional actions Works within professional ethics and Trust policies.
Education & Training
Essential
40. Qualified in core profession such as Mental Health Nurse (RMN), Mental Health Practitioner, Clinical Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Social Work or creative therapies Art Therapy
41. Recognised degree level broad based health & social care qualification which will require completion of The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Knowledge Skills and Attribute
42. Accredited therapeutic training
Desirable
43. Post graduate (masters and above) level study
44. Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of child and adolescent mental health
Experience
Essential
45. Experience of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families.
46. Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
47. Must be experienced in providing risk assessment of self harming behaviour. Must be experienced in analysing presenting problems and able to demonstrate ability to work autonomously utilising a range of therapeutic perspectives and modalities, depending on the needs of the client.
48. Must be experienced in and able to demonstrate ability to provide case management supervision for lower banded CAMHS Workers, students and other service group/team professionals as required. Must demonstrate ability to be self-reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately. Must be able to demonstrate ability to develop and evaluate consultation and training to other professionals and to staff groups.
Desirable
49. Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
50. Experience of the application of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions of in different cultural contexts.
51. Experience of working with children and young people in a range of clinical settings.