Primary Mental Health Worker/Therapist (Band 6)

Job responsibilities

PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Clinical

1. To assist the implementation of delivery of a range of psychological interventions to children, young people and parents within a school setting, in line with NICE guidance.

2. To work jointly to implement a whole school approach to mental health under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist.

3. To undertake protocol based psychological assessments of patients, including self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients and others involved in the clients care.

4. To assist in the formulation and delivery of mental health care involving psychological interventions for mild to moderate mental health problems, under the clinical supervision of qualified professional psychologists / psychotherapists, in school and community settings.

5. To lead in the coordination and running of groups and workshops.

6. To maintain accurate and accessible health care records according to Trust policy and Information Governance requirements, and in line with Cognus recording policies and procedures.

7. To demonstrate high level communication skills, both written and verbal, within all agencies.

Teaching, Training, and Supervision

1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a qualified professional psychologist / psychotherapist in accordance with professional practice guidelines and clinical governance guidelines.

2. To spend 0.5 day per week (pro-rata) on CPD to further develop skills in therapeutic interventions and risk assessment.

3. To develop skills and competencies that assist in the delivery of current duties.

4. To contribute to the training and support of others, including school staff and workers in the non-statutory sector enabling them to provide effective mental health care.

5. To inform primary care practitioners and users about local statutory and voluntary services to whom children and young people can be signposted.

Management, Recruitment, Policy and Service Development

1. To take the lead in managing a triage system for entry to the service in line with agreed protocols and to highlight issues relating to potential waiting times and access to the MHST Lead, and Educational Psychologist

2. To assist and lead in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.

3. To attend meetings in which service developments are planned and discussed.

Research and Service Evaluation

1. To assist the clinical team leader and others in undertaking data collection, analysis, and production of reports and summaries, in relation to primary care mental health services.

2. To undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified applied psychologists and others in evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

3. To take the lead in organising resources of self-help material and maintaining up to date information about services to which service users could be signposted.

Other

1. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holders professional and service manager(s)

2.To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice and Trust and Cognus policies and procedures.

3. To prepare therapeutic materials and visual aids as required.

4. To identify and provide multi-disciplinary services alongside other Cognus professionals.

Training and Development

1. To undertake mandatory and statutory training, supervision and annual appraisal as required by Trust policy and Cognus requirements.

2. To contribute and commit to undertaking an annual appraisal and ongoing performance management reviews.

3. To undertake personal development as identified in the Personal Development Plan

SERVICE DESCRIPTION

The Community CAMHS Directorate is located within Southwest London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust. The Trust is responsible for the provision of mental health services to the population of Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Richmond as well as providing a range of specialist services to a set of wider, regional and national catchment areas.

The Southwest London Trailblazer programme is part of a wider, national programme stemming from the Government Green Paper which advocated for a joint partnership between education and health to provide early intervention for mental health difficulties in schools.

Each Mental Health Support Team (MHST) works with an allocated cluster of primary and secondary schools. MHSTs work jointly with schools and cluster leads to implement a Whole School Approach (WSA) to mental health across the cluster, informed by the needs outlined on the cluster action plan.

This post is located within an MHST for a cluster of schools in Sutton led from St Philomenas CatholicHigh Schoolfor Girls. This team aims to deliver a range of evidence-based psychological interventions for children, young people and their families with common mental health difficulties. This Sutton MHST has an additional specialist focus on Domestic Violence and providing support for children who are at risk of or have existing emotional wellbeing difficulties caused by the trauma they have witnessed as a result of domestic violence. As such, applicants will need to demonstrate good knowledge and a strong understanding of the social and psychological stresses experienced by those who have witnessed domestic violence.

The CAMHS MHSTs within SWLSTG NHS Trust are professionally managed by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and operationally managed by a Clinical Psychologist as supervisor. The current post will instead be operationally managed and supervised from within the Educational Psychology team in Cognus. Additional professional supervision may be sought if required.

Cognus is part of the London Borough of Sutton and comprises a number of educational support services. This post will be co-located with these education services enabling cross and multi-agency working. This will include regularly working with the Educational Psychology Service, Safeguarding, Inclusion Team and many more, offering a diverse role with opportunities for creativity. Cognus support strategic decision-making for the local area and is based out of a convenient office location in Wallington.

This Sutton MHST will consist of 10 staff including a qualified Clinical Psychologist, qualified Educational Psychologist, a Band 7, the advertised post, 4 Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and admin support. The team works directly within schools and close liaison with school staff and other mental health services is an essential part of the role.

There are three other MHSTs across Sutton, and strong links between the other teams in Wandsworth, Merton and Battersea and a good peer support network.

The wider CAMHS service within the Trust includes dedicated teams for Eating Disorders, Neurodevelopmental Assessment, Complex Learning Difficulties, Multi-Systemic Therapy and Emergency Care. Cognus is commissioned, and wholly owned, by London Borough of Sutton, to provide education services to mainstream schools and specialist education providers in Sutton. It delivers a wide range of 26 services from Admissions and Music, to SEND and Therapies.

An electronic clinical record and information system (CYP IAPTUS) is in use as well as an educational database used by Cognus.

Qualifications

Essential

• An upper second-class honours degree or higher
• Professional qualification as a nurse, social worker, occupational therapist, drama therapist, art therapist or other relevant profession (a mental health qualification of some form is required)
• Registration with HCPC or other appropriate professional body

Desirable

• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of mental health practice and/or research design and analysis
• Training in domestic abuse and experience of work related domestic abuse

Experience

Essential

• Experience of relevant paid work within Child & Adolescent Mental Health and/or school settings
• Strong experience of working with children, young people and families with mental health problems and/or other disabilities
• Experience of working with an ethnically and racially diverse community
• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
• Considerable experience in delivering both group and individual interventions

Desirable

• Experience of risk assessment and management

Knowledge, skills and abilities

Essential

• High-level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be emotive
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to children, young people, parents, carers and colleagues in a way that addresses psychological resistance
• An understanding of psychological therapy applied to common mental health problems
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a schools context
• An understanding of psychology applied to mental health care
• Understanding and being able to work within the ethos and values of cluster schools
• An ability to interact effectively with children and young people from all cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds and an understanding of the impact of prejudice, racism and discrimination.
• An ability to interact with distressed or disturbed children and young people
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently with work agreed and managed at regular intervals
• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems

Desirable

• An interest in working with children and young people with common mental health problems and those with long-term health conditions
• Ability to travel between schools by public transport (car parking is not available at schools)
• A desire to explore a career within the NHS

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).