Senior Mental Health Practitioner inBarnstaple inBarnstaple PUBLISHED FRI 17 JAN 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the North Devon Community rehabilitation team as a band 6 senior mental health practitioner. The team which has a base in the North Devon wellbeing hub, is a small, dynamic and developing service. The service is focussed on people with severe and enduring mental illness, with diagnoses such as schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder and bipolar disorder.

The successful applicant will have a defined caseload and will care co-ordinate these people, offering intensive, evidence-based and recovery focussed interventions. The post holder will be required to carry out training specific to their role including Family Intervention training, Motivational Interviewing and use their subsequent knowledge and skills to improve the quality of life and the therapeutic outcomes for those in their care. The post holder will undertake and continuously re-evaluate complex bio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulation which will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based practice.

We are looking for an experienced mental health practitioner who has worked in a community setting previously, and who will have the skills toremotivate and engage clients within a community setting.The successful applicant will provide a range of rehabilitation interventions with a client centred focus as well as support and specialised interventions for families and carers.

The community team operates in close liaison with the inpatient team on Ocean view ward, which is the 8 bedded inpatient rehabilitation ward for people with complex psychosis, some of whom will also be under the community team. The ward and community team offer a cohesive recovery based service, which includes joint working and collaborative care planning and risk assessment. The successful applicant willcontribute to the teams engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including staff, service users, their carers and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies.

The post holder will also contribute to clinical governance arrangements in order to ensure the quality of the service provided; this will include ensuring performance targets are met to provide high quality care. This includes involvement in the development of local systems and process that ensure the implementation of Trust policies.

Clinical and managerial supervision will be provided as well as the support of an experienced and highly skilled multidisciplinary team, and there will be further future training opportunities on offer.

About us

Duties and Responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

• Contribute to the teams engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including staff, service users, their carers and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies.

Impart highly complex and sensitive information to:

1. Patients and families/carers re assessment, care planning, treatment and review
2. Multi disciplinary teams to ensure the provision of consistent well coordinated care
3. Primary care teams regarding client care
4. External agencies also involved in the provision of care e.g.: voluntary and private sector, police, social services, housing, employment etc
5. Service user/carer groups

• Liaise with a wide range of other professionals and agencies.
• Contribute to the safe and effective day to day operations of the service including the handling of clinical enquires.
• Provide and receive information some of which may be contentious, sensitive and highly complex to and from individuals and their families/carers, where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Provide a high standards of written and verbal communication that is clear and in line with professional documentation standards.
• Participate in and chair clinical meetings, this will include CPA and non-CPA reviews, professional meetings, and clinical risk meetings.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate in a way that is empathic and reassuring whilst employing negotiating techniques to gain co-operation from highly complex individuals. Communicate information in a way that makes it relevant and understandable for service users and carers, working in line with practice standards and operational policies.
• Facilitate fair access to social care services and promote social inclusion regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
• To maintain effective verbal and written communication with the clinical team and to keep staff informed of changes to prescribing intervention or treatment provided to service-users.
• To work in partnership with medical staff and service-users in the development and implementation of clinical management plans related to an individuals treatment and prescribing needs.
• To establish and maintain good liaison with GP practices and other services in the area, including sharing prescribing information and rationale.
• To liaise and work jointly with partnership agencies, service user and carer groups, with both the statutory and non-statutory sectors as appropriate.
• To develop joint working relationships with other services where needed.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

• Undertake and continuously re-evaluate complex bio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulation and diagnosis which will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based and payment by results.
• Undertake recovery focussed care planning with individuals, their carers and their families which ensure that personalised recovery goals are identified and met.
• Undertake complex risk assessments and develop a formulation of risk which will lead to the development of risk management plans which have taken into consideration a range of possible options.
• Ensure the continuous re-evaluation of individuals needs and clinical risk situations and use clinical judgement to formulate the most appropriate clinical plan.

Planning and Organisational Skills

• Organise and facilitate complex meetings, these will include: CPA and non-CPA professional and risk meetings.
• Responsible for managing their own workload to ensure the needs to the individuals who use our services are met taking the wider needs of the team into consideration.
• Ensure that interventions are planned in an integrated and co-ordinated manner particularly where dependent on other external agencies.
• Plan and organise individuals packages of care and ensure that reviews are held within the required time frames, for example Section 117, Funding Panels and CPA.
• Plan own workload and the workload of junior colleagues to ensure that care is provided in the most high quality and cost efficient manner, prioritise and make adjustments as appropriate.
• To be aware of the current legislation and prescribing developments that may impact on the delivery of services to service users.
• Have a good knowledge, and apply current Trust Policies and associated Standard Operating Procedures
• Ensure that interventions are planned in an integrated and co-ordinated manner particularly where dependent on other external agencies.Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy
• Ensure that caseload is well managed and that care and treatment is provided in line with practice standards and recovery co-ordination (CPA and non-CPA ).
• Develop and deliver care packages including assessing, planning, intervention and evaluation.
• Ensure that all interventions have clear outcomes and that these are taken into consideration when sourcing the resources to best meet the individuals needs. This will include enabling individuals to take up Direct Payments and offering the person as much choice and control of resources as appropriate.
• Ensure that all social care packages are reviewed within the relevant timescales and focus on integration within existing community resources where possible.
• Deliver services using a recovery and strengths approach where the needs of the individual and their carers are held as central and their involvement is proactively encouraged.
• Deliver care in line with evidence based practice and employ engagement and therapeutic skills that are appropriate to the clinical situation presented.
• Responsibility for triaging individuals and signposting to the most appropriate services.
• Provide specialist advice to referrers/other multi-disciplinary staff in relation to the care of individuals.
• Enable communication and engagement of individuals and their carers to ensure that they have a voice about the services they receive and how these are developed. This may include engagement of advocacy services.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to safeguarding adults and children. This will include providing and receiving highly complex and sensitive information in relation to safeguarding adult and children work, co-ordinating and chairing safeguarding meetings and implementing relevant care plans.
• Ensure that assessment and treatment plans are holistic, outcome focused and take into account the physical health and social needs of the individual, including input of significant others.
• Ensure the monitoring and review of mental health medication taking into consideration interactions with physical health needs.
• Ensuring timely and accurate documentation of all clinical activity in line with professional guidance and best practice.
• Practice in a way that actively minimises dependency and promotes recovery.
• Comply with the relevant Professional body Code of Conduct/ Royal Pharmaceutical Society Code of Ethics, relevant legislation, procedures and policies. To attend and contribute effectively to relevant professional forums.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

• Participate in programmes of audit and research within the team as agreed by the Directorate and implement the findings.
• Contribute to clinical governance arrangements in order to ensure the quality of the service provided, this will include ensuring performance targets are met to provide high quality care.
• Involvement in the development of local systems and process that ensure the implementation of Trust policies.
• Facilitate the multi-disciplinary teams knowledge of mental health and rehabilitation.
• Take appropriate action to encourage the professional development and positive therapeutic commitments on the part of health/social services and other agencies towards service users.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

• Prepare and oversee care panel applications ensuring that wider financial implications are taken into consideration.
• Ensure care is provided in the most cost-effective and high quality manner and identify unmet needs.
• Responsible for the safe use of any equipment.

• Responsibility for handling of monies and individuals valuables.
• To contribute to financial governance through knowledge and appropriate resource management of allocated prescribing budget for service, in collaboration with clinical lead and medical colleagues.

Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management

• Provision of day to day and clinical supervision as allocated by line manager (this will include participation in the PDR process).
• Demonstrate and role model excellent clinical leadership skills.
• Supervise the caseload and care provision of junior colleagues.
• Mentor students in line with professional requirements.
• Ensure that core training is maintained and that the training and development opportunities in line with the Directorates Workforce Plan are participated in to meet professional requirements.
• Ensure participation in the teams compliance with CQC standards through the participation in provider compliance assessment tools.
• To provide advice and training to the team on issues related to mental health and rehabilitation.

Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties

• Ensure information resources are used to maintain a knowledge of Trust, Directorate and Team priorities and safety initiatives.
• Maintain up to date clinical record in a timely and accurate manner.
• Ensure information is shared with key stakeholders and other agencies in a secure manner
• Ensure up to date relevant information is available to the team in relation to your registered speciality (mental health nursing, social work, occupational therapy)
• Work within operational policies and service specifications.
• Work cooperatively with staff colleagues ensuring a no hands off approach
• Undertake any other reasonable management request.