Liverpool MHST Mental Health Practitioner

The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site.

We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We’re also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.

As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.

You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:

• Great flexible working opportunities
• Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Extensive staff health and well-being programmes

Job overview

1. 5 Hours per week

Liverpool Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) at Alder Hey are looking for a Mental Health Practitioner to join our team.

As a B6 Mental Health Practitioner (MHP) you will work across a range of educational, healthcare and community settings to provide early intervention/evidence based interventions for children and young people and their families, enabling children and young people to access support in schools.

In addition, the post holder will deliver training and work with education providers to develop the Whole School and College Approach. The post holders may also provide supervision to our Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP’s).

If you are a current B5 EMHP you will need to submit a KSA as part of this process. Please submit your completed KSA to [email protected] and refer to this in your application form.

Main duties of the job

To communicate to the client and family, knowledge of therapeutic processes, confidentiality and available options involved in their assessment and care plan, to enable them to engage appropriately from a position of informed consent. This will sometimes include communication about highly sensitive material and outcomes.

Utilising analytical skills, specialist knowledge and experience provide a comprehensive assessment and formulation of the presenting problem taking into account the child’s educational attainment, chronological/ developmental stage, inner world/ emotional wellbeing, the mental health of the child’s parents, the family dynamics and environment, and the broader social context including school.

Develop a planned programme of intervention utilising behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and systemic perspectives as indicated by the formulation, the needs of the client and the evidence base.

Provide individual, couple, family and group interventions as appropriate as part of a client's integrated, therapeutic programme.

Undertake with supervision/consultation, case management of cases of some severity, risk and complexity, co-ordinating multi-disciplinary inputs and working in partnership with other agencies where appropriate.

Working for our organisation

Alder Hey MHST is part of the Education Mental Health Team. MHSTs cover both Liverpool and Sefton and currently have links with around 200 schools. Liverpool MHST comprises 4 teams, North, Central, South along with a Transitions Team.

Refer a friend – Alder Hey staff

Successful candidates who are introduced to the trust by existing staff members will receive £1000 after completion of six months in post. Please include the name/Alder Hey email for your friend in the additional information section of your application.

This will be paid in two parts, £250 in first month pay on commencement in post, and £750 on completion of six months.

Accommodation

Alder Hey will support the cost of accommodation for up to 3 months from the date of employment (up to £500 per month)

The cost is to be paid by the staff member and reclaimed as expenses.

Relocation package

Relocation packages to support new hires and will be consulted on an individual basis, please link in with [email protected] for further information.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will provide a substantial contribution to the clinical work of the team, including accepting, prioritising, assessing, and treating referrals of children and their families. Initially this will be at a level to be agreed with the candidate but over time they will take full case management responsibility for their case load.

In addition, they may provide consultation, under supervision, to professionals from other services and participate in service development. The proportion of direct clinical work, consultation and service development work undertaken will be negotiated with the clinical team manager and the professional lead.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Qualified in core profession such as Mental Health Nurse (RMN/RLD), Mental Health Practitioner, Clinical Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Social Work or creative therapies e.g. Art Therapy - with proof of relevant professional registration OR Recognised degree level broad based health & social care qualification which will require completion of The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Knowledge Skills and Attributes
• Two years’ experience of post graduate work in core profession / following qualification
• Two years’ experience working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary setting and evidence of training in child & family mental health related field.
• Experienced in and able to demonstrate proficiency in case management responsibility
• Training in child & family mental health related field

• Experience of working in child and adolescent mental health services.

Knowledge

• Able to demonstrate application of therapeutic and analytical skills
• Able to demonstrate ability to be self-reflective in relation to practice.
• Able to provide, (with appropriate supervision), assessment of emergency/ self-harming behaviour.
• Must demonstrate a working knowledge of health, education, social services and the voluntary sector.
• Knowledge of relevant, current legislation.
• Knowledge of safety factors in management of self-harming behaviours and child protection issues
• An understanding of principles underlying psychodynamic, systemic, cognitive and behavioural therapies.
• Working knowledge of child development
• Awareness of recent government initiatives
• Organisational skills to manage and prioritise workload balance appropriately
• Able to demonstrate a commitment to the overall vision and the development of the professional group of mental health practitioners
• Must demonstrate utilisation of professional development planning in own career progression

• Knowledge of audit and evaluation methodology

Personal Attributes

• Must demonstrate utilisation of professional development planning in own career progression.
• Must show enthusiasm and appreciation for multidisciplinary and multi-agency working.
• Must demonstrate a professional manner.
• Must demonstrate a high level of communication skills commensurate with the nature of clinical and professional contacts required of the post

We reserve the right to close vacancies without notice when we have received a sufficient number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will contact you using this regarding your application. All candidates will be notified via email whether or not they have been shortlisted.

We actively promote equality and diversity and operate a Zero Tolerance policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment.

Please declare within the supporting information if artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in your application.