Site Lewisham Education settings Town Lewisham Salary £44,806 - £53,134 per annum Incl. of HCAs Salary period Yearly Closing 30/03/2025 23:59
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Wellbeing Practitioner (SWP) or Mental Health Practitioner, with a background of working with education settings, to work in Lewisham CAMHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST).
The post holder will be an SWP due to complete the approved 2-year SWP Post Graduate Diploma in Jan 2025 OR a registered Mental Health Practitioner who has undertaken a recognised qualification in one of the core mental health professions.
The post holder will use their knowledge, skills, and experience to supervise trainee and qualified Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and contribute to the general service development and functioning.
The post holder will also manage a defined caseload with a focus on providing focused assessment and evidence-based intervention for children and young people (CYP) with mild to moderate mental health difficulties and their parents/carers.
Part of this role will include being a named MHST Link Practitioner to a group of schools/colleges, regularly liaising with education staff, external agencies, CAMHS colleagues and other local services.
Main duties of the job
• To manage a defined caseload of children and young people presenting with emotional health and wellbeing difficulties in schools
• To co-ordinate and deliver individualised care packages / programmes for children and young people and evaluate these programmes, ensuring high standards of practice in accordance with national guidelines and trust policy.
• To provide specialist mental health advice, consultation and signposting using an outcome-based triage model to education settings
• To demonstrate the ability to work as an autonomous specialist practitioner in relation to their specialist area and in clinic which will include the reading and recording of the clinical observations of each child and the ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of treatment packages.
Working for our organisation
The MHSTs are a new service designed to help meet the mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. They are made up of senior clinicians, CAMHS Practitioners and Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs). They are based across education settings as an additional resource within a whole-system approach to promote resilience and wellbeing, to support earlier intervention, enable appropriate signposting and deliver evidence-based support, care and interventions. The MHSTs is partnered with their education settings to design a bespoke offer, based on a school’s individual needs and works with the mental health services that are already in place, such as counselling, educational psychology, school nurses, pastoral care, educational welfare officers, VCSEs, the local authority, including children’s social care, and NHS Children and Young People Mental Health Services (CYPMHS).
There are currently three MHSTs in Lewisham, working across 39 schools. The successful candidate will be employed by Lewisham CAMHS where the MHST deliver emotional wellbeing interventions using Guided Self-Help strategies.
The MHST are a friendly and supportive team who have developed a close partnership with Lewisham schools in providing low intensity interventions, creating workshops and groups and adapting services to meet the adapting services to meet the needs of schools, young people and families in Lewisham in line with CYP-IAPT principles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• To engage therapeutically with clients and their carers in a variety of settings, as appropriate to the needs of the client and to be able to assess the risk of working in particular areas.
• To be able to assess and manage risk in children and young people and to do this on an ongoing basis
• To take case management responsibilities when appropriate in clinical meetings, giving clear clinical advice with regard to assessment, Risk Assessment, formulation and treatment of identified clients.
• To recognise responsibility and act according to Trust and national guidelines alongside protocols with the relevant education settings in safeguarding children and adults.
• To respond to the needs of clients and their carers in an honest, non-judgemental and open manner, which respects the rights of individuals and groups.
• To demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities for all people.
• To understand the impact of social & cultural diversity on patients’ and carers’ needs and on their experiences of mental illness and mental health services.
• To respond to the diverse needs of the specialist client group and their carers sensitively with regard for age, developmental stage, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and the need for their privacy and dignity
• To understand the rights of clients and carers and to assist them in exercising those rights, where appropriate.
• To undertake carers assessments and devise an appropriate care plans.
• To have knowledge of appropriate legislation and its relevance to the specialist area
• To take responsibility for the decision to discharge clients from care when agreed treatment programmes have been completed.
• To be aware of and take a role in the CYP Directorate participation programme
• To effectively and appropriately communicate risks often under difficult, highly charged and emotional circumstances to medical staff, other professionals and families involved in the care of the client.
• To act as an autonomous practitioner with an understanding of own limitations and recognition of when to seek support.
• To contribute to overall service delivery and development, with a particular focus on care and referral pathways, and the development of the MHST as required
• To work closely with the school based and community health professionals, carrying out joint assessments when appropriate.
• To ensure that own practice remains within legal, ethical and professional parameters and is open to scrutiny from relevant professionals.
• To demonstrate the ability to make appropriate decisions with regard to the confidentiality of clients and their families taking into considerations the risks to clients, self and the wider public.
• To liaise with other colleagues in CAMHS / partnering organisations and especially within schools and participate in different clinical groups in order to share best practice and discuss current and future professional and clinical developments e.g., case review meetings and professional forums
• To liaise independently and effectively with external partner agencies, co-ordinating meetings and participating in case discussions between teams involved in the care of clients
Person specification
Qualifications
* Core professional training e.g. Mental Health Nurse, Social Work, Occupational Therapy or Art, Play, Drama, Music Therapy.
* Professional registration with the relevant statutory body (e.g. Nursing Midwifery Council, Health & Care Professional’s Council or Social Work England).
* Guidance Score Specialist training in a subject/skill relevant to Child & and Adolescent Mental Health (0-18 years) or clear evidence of transferable knowledge from different client group.
Experience
* Significant experience in a setting where mental health is the primary focus some of which should have been in a CAMHS setting and/or Schools.
* Experience in working with children and adolescents with Special Educational Needs
* Experience of supervising junior staff or trainees.
* Experience of Cognitive Behavioural interventions
Knowledge and Skills
* Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate risk/care plans to meet the needs of clients.
* Ability to work as a member of a multidisciplinary team and demonstrate awareness of MDT functioning.
* Ability to maintain and manage own workload and work autonomously within the specialist area.
* Ability to analyse risk and respond appropriately, seeking support as necessary.
* The ability to supervise, teach and develop the skills of student and junior staff as and when appropriate.
The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:
* Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
* Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
* We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity
Please note:
* That all applications for this post will need to be made online
* That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
* That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
* That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
* That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
* That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
* That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
* That we are a smoke-free Trust
SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.
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.
Name Zoe McLeod Job title MHST Clinical Service Lead Lewisham MHST North Email address zoe.mcleod@slam.nhs.uk Telephone number 07860704651 Additional information
David Linford
MHST Clinical Service Lead Lewisham MHST South david.linford@slam.nhs.uk
07970 760 794
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