Mental Health Practitioner

An exciting opportunity has become available for an experienced community mental health practitioner. We are looking for a worker that is passionate about delivering joined up care in partnership with the General Practitioner’s (GP) in the Within the Acton area (PCN). You will also be working with the Ealing Acton MINT team who are strong believers of population health approaches to tackling health inequalities in the area Acton.

You will be joining at an exciting time as we continue our journey in delivering the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults. This framework represents a new approach to situating and providing place-based integrated support, care and treatment in the community for people with mental health problems whatever their level of need.

Main duties of the job:

The Mental Health ARRS role is key to dissolving the barriers that can exist between primary and secondary care. mental health and physical health, social care, voluntary and community social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and local communities, and primary and secondary care, to deliver integrated, personalised, place-based and well-coordinated care for adults and older adults. We are moving towards a ‘whole system’ of mental health care, which will provide timely access to support, care and treatment.

Working for our organisation:

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.

Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.

We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.

We’re rated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Together, we’re committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.

We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

As a Mental Health Practitioner in these roles, you will be embedded within the PCN, but employed by West London NHS Trust, and will be key in the development of shared pathways of care between the PCN in which they work and the local MINT team. You will be an integral part of a wider team of PCN care professionals working under the mentorship of a GP and receiving clinical support through the Trust’s MINT Service. You will work alongside Paramedics, Clinical Pharmacists, Social Prescribers, Physician Associates as well as the wider Mental Health teams allowing you the flexibility to bring in colleagues as needed to support your caseload.

The remit of this role holder will be to:

- Work with patients within Primary Care whose needs cannot be met by the IAPT service;
- Help the patient identify their needs and make shared decisions about self-management;
- Offer brief evidence-based interventions where appropriate (where these needs cannot be facilitated by IAPT);
- Liaise and work with other Primary Care colleagues within the PCN to address patients’ needs;
- Make onward referrals to local MINT or other treatment teams where a multi-disciplinary mental health approach is indicated, e.g. patients with complex needs or who may require a period of specialist mental health care to help them to address more acute mental health needs;

Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria

- Professional qualification in mental health e.g. Occupational Therapy, Social Work or Mental Health Nursing (RMN) with current NMC/HCPC registration or Psychology as accredited by the BPS. Professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology as accredited by the BPS, and HPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist under the relevant domain
- A recorded/registered qualification in one of the following – psychology, nursing, social work, occupational therapy, arts therapy and registration with the appropriate body for that profession

Desirable criteria

- Educated to degree or Diploma level with other courses relevant to primary care mental health services e.g. CBT, Brief Solution Focussed Therapy etc.
- RGN/physical health qualification
- Evidence of recent and on-going relevant further professional development
- Attendance at specialist short courses relevant to the post (e.g. MBT or DBT, Trauma Informed Care, Group Approaches)

Experience
Essential criteria

- Experience of work in the NHS, PCNs or outreach work, or local engagement work (e.g. youth worker, mentoring, peer support etc.), experience of working in voluntary sector, working in community groups.
- Experience of working in General Practice
- Experience of working with Complex Emotional Needs (previously termed Personality Disorders)
- Work with client groups with serious mental health problems: mental health care and/or working with carers and/or delivering therapeutic group interventions and/or working in MDTs and/or Work in multi-cultural settings and work with interpreters Mental health issues as a service user or carer

Desirable criteria

- Evidence of experience in a Band 6 position or equivalent
- Experience of case finding
- Experience of working in GP
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
- Experience of conducting audit, evaluation or research
- Other relevant post registration experience
- Work with behaviours that challenge services
- Experience of teaching/training in a formal or informal setting
- Experience of working in a primary care setting/ social care/ voluntary sector
- Experience of supervising junior staff within own and/or other disciplines

Knowledge
Essential criteria

- Basic understanding of health care systems and structures: staffing, roles and responsibilities, the role of hospitals, primary care and community care
- Team/self-management and organisation skills that enable a number of complex activities and clinical work to be undertaken, revising and adjusting these according to the needs of individual patients and the service
- Knowledge of counselling skills/cognitive behavioural skills, psychosocial interventions
- Knowledge of recovery approaches as used with those with mental health conditions
- Work with people from a wide range of backgrounds
- Contain and work with organisational stress and able to hold the stress of others
- Manage effectively exposure to distressing/highly emotional circumstances
- Manage effectively verbal aggression from service users, families, etc. and the risk of physical aggression
- Respectful and collaborative approach to service users, families, carers, colleagues and other professionals
- Able to negotiate and ability to handle confrontation effectively and professionally
- Ability to engage challenging and/or acutely distressed patients in potentially hostile and/or antagonistic situations and use de-escalation techniques effectively
- Assessment and treatment of Deliberate Self Harm
- Risk assessment/management and crisis intervention skills
- Use of psychosocial assessment methods
- Higher level communication skills, both written and oral
- Sufficient clinical knowledge to be able to make autonomous decisions, based on an analysis of complex presenting problems and judgement about available options, with senior clinical support/supervision

Desirable criteria

- Ability to interpret research and apply to practice
- Specialist knowledge of mental health conditions as well as their relationship to physical disorders
- Understanding of NHS England’s plans with regard to Primary Care Networks.

Operational
Essential criteria

- Computer literate
- Being able to work flexibly across local environments
- Awareness of diversity of cultural norms and being able to respond to this appropriately
- Concentrate intensely for a substantial proportion of working time, during client contact, teaching/supervision sessions, team meetings, preparing written work etc.
- Use IT packages – word processing, e-mail and internet, Excel and Access
- Ability to use or learn NHS clinical systems
- Work cross-culturally and/or in different languages
- Work to professional guidelines
- Accept accountability for own work, and of working towards defined results
- Plan, organise and prioritise own workload
- Record and report on clinical information as required

Desirable criteria

- Use IT packages-, SPSS,

Personal Qualities
Essential criteria

- Ability to influence without authority
- Work as part of a team spread across multiple locations operating with a matrix structure
- Ability to work effectively, timely and independently
- Ability to frequently work under pressure and maintain intense concentration, particularly in unpredictable situations where there will be exposure to highly distressed and/or disturbed patients, often exhibiting challenging behaviours and the risk of physical violence
- Ability to meet deadlines
- Commitment to equal opportunities
- Self-motivated, able to work autonomously and independently with confidence when required.
- Exercise initiative, flexibility and tact and self-awareness
- Willing to use peer and group supervision creatively
- Be aware of the limitations in your competencies and seek appropriate senior advice and leadership.

Desirable criteria

- Personal experience of a mental health condition