Mental Health Practitioner

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes 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 believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

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Job overview

The Crisis Response and home Treatment Team offers an alternative to the 9-5 working

The team is a pan Borough service working across the four Boroughs.

The team offer urgent mental health assessments and have an extensive home treatment offer supporting complex young people in the community.

Main duties of the job

As a Mental Health Practitioner, you 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 provide interventions, advice, consultation and supervision to both colleagues and colleagues within external partner agencies in line with THRIVE and clinical competency.

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.

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 are 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 cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL

• To coordinate the care of service users carrying out assessment planning, implementation and evaluation of their care under the guidelines of the care programme approach and under the supervision of the line manager
• To ensure that the service users care plan is developed to meet the assessed need of the individual and that unqualified staff are delivering care as laid down in the care plan
• To liaise with family members, carers and significant others when completing the assessment and developing a care plan
• To develop a risk management plan for service users, taking note of the contributions from other members of the team. Ensure that all significant people are aware of the risk management plan and are actioning it appropriately.
• To direct unqualified staff in order to ensure delivery of a high standard of care to service users
• To participate in setting standards for care based on sound evidence based and research findings
• To participate in the systematic monitoring and evaluation of service users that you have responsibility for with guidance from a Supervisor
• To communicate with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to ensure the communication of any relevant information which has an impact on the service user's caresibility for with guidance from a supervisor
• To communicate with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to ensure the communication of any relevant information which has an impact on the service user's care
• To use verbal and non-verbal communication skills gained through training or experience to impart sensitive information.
• To check understanding of information where there are often barriers to effective communications due to distress, psychiatric symptoms or where English is not the first language
• To use skills gained through training and experience to give and receive information to other individuals with regards to a service users care in the reviews and multi-disciplinary meetings. These individuals may be external to the Trust
• To have knowledge of the Mental Health Act / Mental Capacity Act and other relevant legislation. To support services users and their carers when the Mental Health Act is being used to admit the service user to hospital. To ensure that service user rights under the Mental Health Act are effectively communicated to them and outcomes documented
• To provide and co-ordinate the provision of a range of therapeutic activities for service users and monitor their effectiveness.
• To take responsibility for the safe administration of medication to service users ensuring that the Trust policies and procedures and the Nursing & Midwifery Councils regulations are adhered to.
• To ensure that all relevant information with regards to a service users care and treatment is documented accurately and legibly into the health record. To supervise and monitor the entries made by unqualified staff.
• To under the guidance of a supervisor provide reports both in written and verbal
• To contribute to teaching sessions in order to pass on knowledge and skills.
• To use skills gained through training and experience to de-escalate situations where service users become physically or verbally aggressive
• To ensure that unqualified staff members get appropriate support following violent or other untoward incidents
• To ensure that all incidents or near misses are documented as per Trust policy and that any follow up action is taken.
• To actively participate in service user reviews ensuring that service user needs are met and that the team has all the relevant information on which to base their clinical decisions
• To develop care plans that enable service users to reach and maintain their optimum level of health and independence to help them to remain in the community in their chosen setting.
• To react pro-actively in cases of service user crisis and put in place immediate plans to resolve the situation with supervision and guidance as appropriate
• To assist in the assessment and supervision of nursing and other students.
• To assess and monitor the physical and mental health of service users, seeking advice and support from medical staff as appropriate.
• To actively participate in team meetings in order to positively influence team working and the development of research based practice.

PROFESSIONAL

• To be responsible for maintaining own professional registration and PREP requirements.
• To provide an effective link between mental health services and primary care, acting in an advisory capacity to professionals in other fields
• To develop effective working relationships with other professional outside of the Trust in order to enhance the delivery of care to service users.
• To participate as a supervisor and supervisee in the divisional performance management / supervision framework. Work towards and help others work towards goals and objectives as agreed in personal development plans.
• To take responsibility for maintaining and developing own knowledge and sills within own area of work.
• To attend, as appropriate, courses and conferences, and to feedback and share knowledge, gained from attendance.
• To be professionally accountable for own actions as a registered practitioner.
• To act, at all times, in accordance with Trust policies and procedures, ensuring that unqualified staff are adhering to policy and procedure.
• To undertake mandatory training as identified by the Trust and ensure that all actions are in line with training.
• To keep up to date with developments in professional practice and make recommendations for change to senior staff, as appropriate
• To take and active role in the reporting of adverse incidents as per Trust policy. Ensure that junior staff follow the policy and appropriately report all incidents
• To seek advice and further training, if appropriate, before carrying out any duty
• To actively participate in the preceptorship process, working towards fulfilling any action plans, as agreed with the supervisor, and seeking advice and support to enhance skills and develop expertise.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Appropriate professional qualification by RMN, AHP Social Worker

Desirable criteria

• Degree
• Evidence of post registration study.
• Approved training in CYPMHS

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with a range of people with mental health problems
• Effective Care Co-ordination
• Care Planning and evaluation
• Quality and clinical audit

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of working with young people
• Appreciate the process of standard setting and audit

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to communicate effectively.
• Possess good listening and negotiation skills
• Ability to work as a member of a team
• Professional attitude
• Flexibility
• Possess a caring, compassionate and empathic attitude

Values

Essential criteria

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respect
• Enthusiasm
• Support

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Health & Safety/Risk Management Mental Health Act
• Demonstrate knowledge in the concepts of mentorship, preceptorship and supervision.

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. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust's guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.

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