Job summary Our Primary Care Liaison Team is at the heart of connecting people with the right support at the right time. We provide initial assessments and support conversations for people who may require secondary mental health services. Working closely with GPs, voluntary sector organizations, and both primary and secondary care, we ensure that people receive tailored, compassionate, and effective care. For example, we may meet someone who we then signpost on to support available within primary care. Or we may think that someone requires a period of support from secondary mental health services and refer them on. This post is a development with regular supervisions and the view that you would then progress into a band 6 Specialist Practitioner role within the team within an agreed timeframe. This role is perfect for those who thrive in a dynamic, collaborative environment and want to be part of a team that values clinical expertise, holistic support, and person-centred care. If you're looking for a rewarding role where you can develop your skills, build strong professional relationships, and positively impact people's lives, we'd love to hear from you. Apply today and be part of a team that truly makes a difference. Main duties of the job As a Primary Care Liaison Practitioner, your key responsibility will be to complete initial assessments and support conversations for people referred to our service. This includes: Assessing people's mental health needs through planned appointments and duty work. Managing urgent and routine referrals. Formulating safe, effective and person centred plans that connect people with appropriate support. Make clinical decisions whilst ensuring robust risk management, under the supervision of senior members of the team. Liaising closely with primary care, secondary mental health services, and voluntary sector organisations. To succeed in this role, you will need: To develop strong clinical judgement and the ability to make independent decisions in a fast paced environment. The ability to work autonomously while ensuring patient safety and effective care. Flexibility to manage both urgent and routine needs. To develop excellent communication skills to engage with people compassionately and collaboratively. A proactive, solutions-focused approach to supporting people with their mental health needs. Empathy and resilience to provide high quality care while navigating complex situations. About us We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset. Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care. At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger. Date posted 11 April 2025 Pay scheme Agenda for change Band Band 5 Salary £29,970 to £36,483 a year Contract Fixed term Duration 9 months Working pattern Full-time Reference number 342-WTS078-0425 Job locations Green Lane Hospital Marshall Road Devizes SN10 5DS Job description Job responsibilities To contribute to the full range of activities required to deliver ongoing comprehensive mental healthassessment for service users with severe and enduring mental health needs living in the community andin a range of settings.This may include:a. The use of standardised assessment tools such as Cluster Allocation Support Tool (CAST), KGV.b. Recovery Star.c. History, strengths and aspirations.d. Mental state.e. Impact of culture and diversity.f. Functional needs.g. The needs of family and carer.h. Evaluation of risk.i. Physical health.j. Complicating factors.k. The interventions and treatments required to enable positive change.l. Social Care needs.m. Safeguarding and public protection. 2. To contribute to planning, delivering and reviewing treatment programmes using appropriate frameworks in line with evidencebased practice, including strategies to manage risk for service users with complex needs and carers, bringing in other resources as required. 3. To act as care coordinator for identified service users, also providing defined interventions to individuals on other workers caseloads. 4. To contribute to the planning, delivery and evaluation of defined, therapeutic interventions as identified, in line with personal recovery plans, including to service users who maybe on other caseloads.This might include:a. Individual or group therapeutic intervention.b. Psychological treatments such as CBT, DBT approaches, family interventions.c. Psychosocial interventions.d. Motivational and coping enhancement strategies.e. Medication management.f. Interventions under the Mental Health Act. 5. To deliver a range of activities/defined interventions to improve the friends/relatives/carers (carers) ability to support the service user and to enable them in their relationship with the service user. 6. To develop and maintain good partnership working with other services is maintained throughout all treatment episodes, including regular liaison within Primary Health Care Team, inpatient services, day services, voluntary sector and with nominated carers/advocates. 7. 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 suchas primary care etc where appropriate. 8. To personally 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 meaningfulpersonal recovery plans. 9. To be responsible for maintaining own workload, on a day to day basis, ensuring that time is prioritised effectively, making full use of electronic resources such as diaries/scheduling. 10. To be responsible for the protection of individuals from abuse and harm in line with local safeguarding policies and procedures, by contributing with others to the plans to protect people at risk,ensuring the appropriate sharing of information. 11. To facilitate access for service users and carers to appropriate community services and interventions outside secondary mental health services and across the complete recovery pathway. 12. Personally working collaboratively and sensitively with individuals with a range of mental health needs to develop skills to manage their own health, in accordance with their personal recovery 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 persons goal. 13. 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. 14. Report and record within agreed timeframes, all activity relating to information reporting and performance requirements. 15. To proactively participate in management, workload and clinical supervision in accordance with trust policy, taking personal responsibility for making appropriate arrangements. 16. 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. 17. Demonstrate responsibility for developing own practice in line with professional qualifications and for contributing to the development of others, by making use of effective feedback, supervision, coachingand appraisal, and by providing appropriate information to help others. 18. To adhere to professional codes of conduct ensuring required skills and competencies required are maintained. 19. To participate in local arrangements in order to ensure consistent care to service users across the local geography. 20. To show willingness to support practices which foster and maintain team working. This post is open to newly qualified social workers. In line with AWP trust policy all newly qualified social workers (NQSW) 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 extended for a further 2 years. If you have been appointed to an advertised Band 6 role this will be an automatic progression, following confirmation of your successful ASYE completion. If you have been appointed to a Band 5 post you will then be eligible to apply for a subsequent Band 6 vacancy upon successful ASYE completion. Job description Job responsibilities To contribute to the full range of activities required to deliver ongoing comprehensive mental healthassessment for service users with severe and enduring mental health needs living in the community andin a range of settings.This may include:a. The use of standardised assessment tools such as Cluster Allocation Support Tool (CAST), KGV.b. Recovery Star.c. History, strengths and aspirations.d. Mental state.e. Impact of culture and diversity.f. Functional needs.g. The needs of family and carer.h. Evaluation of risk.i. Physical health.j. Complicating factors.k. The interventions and treatments required to enable positive change.l. Social Care needs.m. Safeguarding and public protection. 2. To contribute to planning, delivering and reviewing treatment programmes using appropriate frameworks in line with evidencebased practice, including strategies to manage risk for service users with complex needs and carers, bringing in other resources as required. 3. To act as care coordinator for identified service users, also providing defined interventions to individuals on other workers caseloads. 4. To contribute to the planning, delivery and evaluation of defined, therapeutic interventions as identified, in line with personal recovery plans, including to service users who maybe on other caseloads.This might include:a. Individual or group therapeutic intervention.b. Psychological treatments such as CBT, DBT approaches, family interventions.c. Psychosocial interventions.d. Motivational and coping enhancement strategies.e. Medication management.f. Interventions under the Mental Health Act. 5. To deliver a range of activities/defined interventions to improve the friends/relatives/carers (carers) ability to support the service user and to enable them in their relationship with the service user. 6. To develop and maintain good partnership working with other services is maintained throughout all treatment episodes, including regular liaison within Primary Health Care Team, inpatient services, day services, voluntary sector and with nominated carers/advocates. 7. 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 suchas primary care etc where appropriate. 8. To personally 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 meaningfulpersonal recovery plans. 9. To be responsible for maintaining own workload, on a day to day basis, ensuring that time is prioritised effectively, making full use of electronic resources such as diaries/scheduling. 10. To be responsible for the protection of individuals from abuse and harm in line with local safeguarding policies and procedures, by contributing with others to the plans to protect people at risk,ensuring the appropriate sharing of information. 11. To facilitate access for service users and carers to appropriate community services and interventions outside secondary mental health services and across the complete recovery pathway. 12. Personally working collaboratively and sensitively with individuals with a range of mental health needs to develop skills to manage their own health, in accordance with their personal recovery 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 persons goal. 13. 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. 14. Report and record within agreed timeframes, all activity relating to information reporting and performance requirements. 15. To proactively participate in management, workload and clinical supervision in accordance with trust policy, taking personal responsibility for making appropriate arrangements. 16. 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. 17. Demonstrate responsibility for developing own practice in line with professional qualifications and for contributing to the development of others, by making use of effective feedback, supervision, coachingand appraisal, and by providing appropriate information to help others. 18. To adhere to professional codes of conduct ensuring required skills and competencies required are maintained. 19. To participate in local arrangements in order to ensure consistent care to service users across the local geography. 20. To show willingness to support practices which foster and maintain team working. This post is open to newly qualified social workers. In line with AWP trust policy all newly qualified social workers (NQSW) 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 extended for a further 2 years. If you have been appointed to an advertised Band 6 role this will be an automatic progression, following confirmation of your successful ASYE completion. If you have been appointed to a Band 5 post you will then be eligible to apply for a subsequent Band 6 vacancy upon successful ASYE completion. Person Specification Education and qualifications Essential Diploma level/Degree in relevant health/social care profession, eg RMN, OT, Social Worker. For qualified staff, current relevant registration with the NMC or HCPC Experience and Knowledge Essential Is able to contribute to the delivery of a range of possible key therapeutic interventions Demonstrates significant experience of, and relevant professional practice qualification in mentoring/assessing students and learners Demonstrates a good understanding of recovery principles and the role of secondary mental health services in the delivery of care Demonstrates significant experience of assessing risk and developing risk management strategies Able to articulate a sound understanding of the relevant legal frameworks/legislation Including CPA process, Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, and Safeguarding. Desirable Demonstrates experience of supervising others, monitoring their performance and ensuring delivery of activity. Skills and abilities Essential Well developed verbal communication skills, able to engage effectively with people At all levels including when a more assertive approach is needed. Well developed active listening skills, which allow for reframing and testing of Understanding Well developed written communication skills, with experience of compiling and sorting notes and reports, establishing statistical data and analysing information Well developed IT skills with an understanding of Microsoft Office, and demonstrate a willingness to embrace new technology and processes Mobile with the facility to move quickly across a geographically dispersed area with limited access to public transport Able to work in self-directed manner Time management skills Ability to prioritise, particularly when working under pressure Other requirements Essential Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behavior which may be challenging at times. Person Specification Education and qualifications Essential Diploma level/Degree in relevant health/social care profession, eg RMN, OT, Social Worker. For qualified staff, current relevant registration with the NMC or HCPC Experience and Knowledge Essential Is able to contribute to the delivery of a range of possible key therapeutic interventions Demonstrates significant experience of, and relevant professional practice qualification in mentoring/assessing students and learners Demonstrates a good understanding of recovery principles and the role of secondary mental health services in the delivery of care Demonstrates significant experience of assessing risk and developing risk management strategies Able to articulate a sound understanding of the relevant legal frameworks/legislation Including CPA process, Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, and Safeguarding. Desirable Demonstrates experience of supervising others, monitoring their performance and ensuring delivery of activity. Skills and abilities Essential Well developed verbal communication skills, able to engage effectively with people At all levels including when a more assertive approach is needed. Well developed active listening skills, which allow for reframing and testing of Understanding Well developed written communication skills, with experience of compiling and sorting notes and reports, establishing statistical data and analysing information Well developed IT skills with an understanding of Microsoft Office, and demonstrate a willingness to embrace new technology and processes Mobile with the facility to move quickly across a geographically dispersed area with limited access to public transport Able to work in self-directed manner Time management skills Ability to prioritise, particularly when working under pressure Other requirements Essential Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behavior which may be challenging at times. Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Additional information Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Employer details Employer name Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust Address Green Lane Hospital Marshall Road Devizes SN10 5DS Employer's website http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)