University Therapy and Liaison Practitioner

Job responsibilities

The UCOPE (University Community Outpatient Psychotherapy Education) /Office for Students service offers brief psychological intervention to students within six of the main Universities of Liverpool.

The service provides intervention to students who are at risk of self-harm and utilises a blended model of Psychodynamic Interpersonal therapy (PIT) and Cognitive Analytical Therapy (CAT) over a time limited period.

The student liaison service forms part of this role, and includes liaison between health care services and Universities

To support the wider services across the mental health care division, to understand the principles of the Psychodynamic Interpersonal therapy (PIT) and Cognitive Analytical Therapy (CAT)

To conduct comprehensive clinical assessments of patients where needed

To support the clinical management of individuals within the service, which could include assessment and engagement, appropriate signposting, or referral into more suited secondary services such as Community mental health teams or Early intervention services

To make recommendations, based on these assessments, about appropriate psychotherapeutic treatments and issues relating to risk management in order that students receive treatment that is appropriate to their needs.

To use clinically appropriate assessment and screening tools i.e. Clinical Screening Tool for self-harm repetition and suicide to understand nature of presentation.

Provide five psychologically informed Brief Intervention for Self-Harm sessions (based on Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy and Cognitive Analytic Therapy) with a one session follow up.

Applicants are not expected to be experienced or trained therapists as training will be delivered once recruitment has occurred. However, applicants will be chosen on the basis of high level interpersonal skills. Regular psychotherapy supervision will be provided.

To run a therapy outcome data base (CORE) and use therapy tracking scales ) as well as trust identified screening tools (PROMS/ReQuol or Dialogue)

To support, develop and review co-produced goal based care plans, along with therapy mapping tools

To contribute to a culture of reflective practice, helping to identify underlying processes and dynamics, and facilitate resolution of conflicts

To model good organisational skills and good boundary management.

To engage in a constructive and honest approach to working with conflict, making good use of supervisory structures

To support and manage clients in crisis through an effective and robust multidisciplinary risk management framework

To work in collaborative partnership with colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team particularly regarding a constructive vigilant attitude to the management of risk.

To attend professional and clinical meetings to advise on the clinical management of clients within the universities

To liaise with family members, carers and significant others when completing the assessment and developing a care plan.

To undertake and supervise risk assessments and formulation of risk management plan for students under your care, taking note of the contributions from other members of the team, family members carers and significant others.

To ensure Safeguarding Children and Adults requirements are followed and participate in meetings as appropriate.

To direct unqualified staff in order to ensure delivery of a high standard of care to students.

To participate in setting standards for care based on sound evidence based and research findings.

To support the development of statistical information and audits, working closely with our data analyst

To participate in the systematic monitoring and evaluation of students.To communicate to other members of the multi-disciplinary team information which has an impact on the service users 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 barriers to effective communications.

To give and receive accurate up-to-date information regarding students care in reviews and multi-disciplinary meetings etc. These reviews may be external to the trust.

To have accurate and up-todate knowledge of the Mental Health Act / Mental Capacity Act and other relevant legislation.

To ensure that all relevant information with regards to a students care and treatment is documented accurately and legibly into the health record. To supervise and monitor the entries made by unqualified staff.

Provide reports both in written and verbal formats as requested.

Responsible for knowing about and following all clinical procedures and policies of the Service, especially with regard to child protection, risk assessment and management and the reporting of incidents.

Ensure that accurate and concise clinical records are kept of all work undertaken to improve communication, facilitate investigations and promote transparency.

To ensure that all incidents or near misses are documented as per trust policy and that any follow up action is taken.

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 supervise nursing, social work, allied professionals and other students

To actively participate in team and triage meetings.

To participate in the induction of new staff.

To actively participate in clinical audits, issues of clinical effectiveness and research, including the on-going assessment, monitoring and evaluation of the clinical work.

To keep up-to-date and engaged with developments in the NHS, particularly in regard to assessment, risk assessment and psychosocial interventions

Qualifications

Essential

• Appropriate professional qualification or experience at Degree Level e.g. RMN, AHP, Social Worker
• Evidence of post registration study / continuing professional development
• Qualification in psychosocial approaches

Desirable

• Working towards master level education

Knowledge/ Experience

Essential

• Significant demonstrable post registration experience in mental health.
• Evidence of leadership and management skills.
• Evidence of experience of managing cases & case loads
• Evidence of supervising staff.
• Ability to work autonomously across the organisation/boundaries and with other agencies
• Experience of working in partnership with other agencies, students and carers
• Experience of audit/research and working knowledge of clinical governance.
• Experience of using Incident Reporting Systems e.g. RADAR
• Experience of undertaking and involvement in Serious Untoward Incident Reviews
• Evidence of experience of working with a range of people with mental health problems in a variety of health care settings.
• A demonstrated understanding of Equality and Human Rights
• Able to communicate effectively both verbally and non-verbally.
• Being responsive and flexible, seeing change as an opportunity to improve services
• Ability to lead the process of standard setting and audit
• Leadership Skills
• Ability to work within a team, be able to generate own workload and ability to work to strict deadlines.
• Ability to build purposeful relationships with a range of both internal and external to the organisation.
• Proven knowledge of relevant mental health legislation.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the community mental health framework guidelines.
• Demonstrate knowledge of supervision process and ability to provide education and supervision to junior staff
• Demonstrate a good knowledge of professional codes of conduct and staffs' responsibility to identify gaps in their knowledge base.
• Responsibility to identify gaps in their knowledge base.

Desirable

• Understanding of psychological therapies, previous experience would be desirable.
• Ability to work with a challenging group, manage risk and teamwork.
• Good understanding of management of self harm

Values

Essential

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

Skills

Essential

• Professional attitude
• Possess excellent listening and negotiation skills
• Excellent oral and written skills
• Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.
• Ability to contribute to developing care excellence within the ward / team area

Other

Essential

• On going post-registration development
• Able to demonstrate flexibility in working hours

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).