Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner - CAMHS (UCAT), Weston-Super-Mare - ref. a79910615

Job overview

We are looking for a Band 6 CAMHS clinician to join our Urgent Care and Assessment Team (UCAT) in North Somerset. This post is open to Mental Health or Learning Disability Nurses, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and clinicians who hold suitable professional registration.

If you are unsure whether your registration is applicable please contact us before applying.

UCAT are a growing, specialist team who are co-located with the wider North Somerset CAMHS service and closely linked to the CAMHS Intensive Outreach Team (CIOT), our partners who cover Bristol and South Gloucestershire. UCAT provide urgent assessment and brief crisis intervention to under 18s in North Somerset through two primary pathways - Hospital assessment and Intensive Outreach.

We are looking for passionate and child-focussed clinicians with experience in assessment and management of complex risks. The ideal candidate will have experience working collaboratively across health, education and social care settings in order to promote the safety of young people on our caseload.

This role will require working shifts which cover Monday - Sunday, 8am - 10pm.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide urgent assessment and brief intervention to young people in North Somerset who present to A&E in crisis. UCAT provides hospital-based assessments within Weston General Hospital (WGH), and urgent follow-ups to NS young people presenting to hospitals out of area.

The team is co-located with the wider North Somerset CAMHS team and works closely with them to provide Intensive Outreach to young people identified of being at-risk of requiring in-patient admission.

The team utilises a number of therapeutic approaches to engage, assess, and offer brief intervention to young people experiencing mental health crisis - DBT, Systemic family therapy, NVR.

The post holder will work collaboratively with young people, families and external agencies to promote the safety of young people, including escalation of safeguarding concerns.

The post holder will offer short-term mental health assessment and intervention to young people in a setting suitable to their needs, including home visits, schools/colleges, and community and clinic room settings.

The post holder will maintain positive working relations with external agencies in order to promote the transitions of young people between services, including transition to AMHS and signposting to appropriate non-NHS services.

The post holder will be supervised by the Team Lead and/or Clinical Lead, and may be required to provide supervision to B4 equivalent colleagues.

Working for our organisation

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.

We are a progressive and dynamic service that work using evidence-based therapeutic treatments and approaches but also foreground anti-oppressive practice and diversity and equality as part of our daily working.

We have an extensive staff wellbeing offer, workshops and walks, as well robust supervision and training.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Duties

The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide urgent assessment and brief intervention to young people in North Somerset who present to A&E in crisis. UCAT provides hospital-based assessments within Weston General Hospital (WGH), and urgent follow-ups to NS young people presenting to hospitals out of area.

The post holder will work collaboratively with young people, parent/carers and external agencies to complete comprehensive risk assessments, psychosocial formulation and safety planning.

The post holder will advocate for young people as part of a multi-agency network to promote their timely access to appropriate forms of support.

The post holder will be part of the UCAT duty rota (approximately once per week), including taking hospital referrals from WGH and receiving duty calls.

Intensive Outreach: The post holder will form part of an outreach team providing intensive support to young people at-risk of requiring in-patient admission and/or support step-down from in-patient settings.

The post holder will attend weekly MDT meetings and rolling CPD, Wellbeing, Business and Formulation meetings.

The post holder will offer mental health assessment and intervention to young people in a setting suitable to their needs, including home visits, schools/colleges, community and clinic room settings.

The post holder will form therapeutic relationships with both young people and parent/carers in order to promote engagement whilst managing their expectations in line with the scope of our service

Responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for independently managing their caseload under supervision of the Team and Clinical Leads and with support from the MDT

UCAT are required to respond to urgent referrals, the post holder is therefore required to manage the timely transfer and/or discharge of young people from our service, once identified work has been completed, in order to maintain throughput

The post holder will be expected to maintain accurate and professional documentation on the IAPTUS clinical system, IAPTUS training will be provided

The post holder will be supervised by the Team Lead and/or Clinical Lead, and may be required to provide supervision to B4 equivalent colleagues

The post holder will be responsible for attending multi-agency meetings relating to young people on their caseload and may be responsible for representing the team or other clinicians in the event of annual leave, sickness etc.

Working Relationships

The team is co-located with the wider North Somerset CAMHS team and works closely with them to provide Intensive Outreach to young people identified of being at-risk of requiring in-patient admission. The post holder will work with NS CAMHS colleagues, contributing to care planning which clearly identifies roles and responsibilities in a child-friendly manner

UCAT forms part of the wider CAMHS Intensive Outreach Team (CIOT), the post holder will work closely with these colleagues to promote continuity of care for young people and families across services.

The post holder will work collaboratively with young people, families and external agencies to promote the safety of young people, including appropriate escalation of safeguarding concerns via Trust and external safeguarding processes.

The post holder will maintain positive working relations with external agencies in order to promote the transitions of young people between services, including transition to AMHS and signposting to appropriate non-NHS services.

The post holder will keep young people at the centre of all decision making, empowering them to make informed, collaborative decisions about their care and treatment whilst advocating for their best interests.

Please see attached Job Description for further details.

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 NQSW’s 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 Qualification

• Professional qualification leading to current professional registration (Eg. Nurse, Social Worker, Occupational Therapy etc.)

• Relevant post-registration qualifications or additional training relevant to child and adolescent mental health (Eg. DBT, Systemic, NVR, CBT)

Experience and Knowledge

• At least 2 years experience post qualification/registration
• Knowledge of child development and attachment
• Experience of comprehensive psychosocial assessment and formulation
• Experience assessing risk and working collaboratively with service users and other agencies to promote safety

• Experience working in child and adolescent mental health services and/or crisis and outreach services
• Knowledge of health, social and education services local to North Somerset

Skills and Abilities

• Good verbal and written communication skills, able to engage effectively with young people, parents/carers, and professionals from a wide range of services.
• Ability and willingness to travel across our service area to work with young people and families in settings most appropriate to their needs (Eg. Home visits, education, community and clinic settings).

• Ability to advocate for young people within complex multi-agency networks

Other Requirements

• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times.

• Full UK driving license and access to own vehicle

This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.

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Please apply to join us, we would love to hear from you. Any personal details you supply to us are kept safe in line with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Adverts normally close for application a few minutes before midnight on the closing date and we will let you know if we are offering you an interview by email via our recruitment system ‘TRAC’. We contact all applicants within 4 weeks after the closing date, so please check your emails regularly once you have submitted your application; you are welcome to contact us, via the TRAC system, if you have any queries about your application.

Please note the use of AI is monitored and if you have used it in your application you are required to declare this.