Community Mental Health Practitioner

Job description

Job responsibilities

Forge Mental Health Service

Community Mental Health Practitioner

Job Description

Job Title: Community Mental Health Practitioner

Salary: £28,000 pro rata; £14,186 actual

Contract / Hours: Permanent.

Up to 19 hours per week. To be primarily worked over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Annual leave: 5 weeks plus Bank Holidays on pro rata basis.

Pension: NHS Pension

Place of work: Pitsmoor Surgery

Accountable to: Forge Mental Health Service Manager

Main Purpose of Job

The overarching purpose of this role is to help improve the quality of life of people with severe and enduring mental health problems. The CMHP will manage a caseload working in close liaison with Forge Health Group GPs. The post holder will work closely with service users and their families to consider their needs and aspirations. They will co-ordinate care, plan and deliver a range of social and psychological interventions regularly reviewing outcomes. The post holder will provide a flexible and responsive service to address wide ranging needs. They will also be proactive, innovative, and creative in delivering care. They will work collaboratively with an extensive network of agencies in the statutory, VCF and private sectors.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

Biopsychosocial assessment of service users needs including risk assessment.

Identification of health and social care needs and prioritisation of treatment goals in negotiation with each person.

Establish and maintain consistent supportive relationships with service users and carers.

Support service users to address physical health issues and access relevant primary and specialist care as necessary.

Engage in regular clinical and professional supervision.

Respond to urgent situations in a clear and supportive manner always showing sensitivity and direction.

Individual and Group Support

Provide or facilitate:

Active outreach and engagement

Supportive listening /counselling

Education about conditions and medication/treatment

Help to enable service users to participate in community events and groups

Support to improve activities of daily living, socialisation, leisure, work and physical health

Interventions to address problems with practical issues such as housing and benefits/finances

Relapse prevention strategies

Group activities to encourage self - help, mutual support and/or promote physical health

Advocacy, and promote self-advocacy, for service users/carers

Communication

Communicate effectively with GPs, practice nurses and all other agencies involved with each person regarding assessments, care plans, risk factors, and signs of deterioration in service users mental and physical health.

Work collaboratively and effectively with members of the multi-disciplinary team and in partnership with other agencies.

Community Liaison

Develop understanding of local communities, resources and services.

Offer formal and informal education / training to local staff and volunteers.

Other

Manage and prioritise own workload, tasks and deadlines.

Report to line manager for management and caseload supervision.

Undertake all administrative tasks associated with the role including accurate record keeping.

Be involved in the planning of own training and continuous professional development.

Actively promote and ensure good equal opportunities practice and work in an anti- oppressive manner.

Adhere to confidentiality principles and maintain the rights of individual service users.

Any other duties commensurate with the nature of the post and the aims of the service.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• 1. 2 years work with people with mental health problems.

Desirable

• 2. Provision of group work.
• 3. Holistic assessment and risk assessment.
• 4. Supporting people with severe and enduring mental health problems.

Personal Qualities

Essential

• 1. Ability to listen, empathise and provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way.
• 2. Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, producing written materials to a high standard.
• 3. Confident in ability to liaise and communicate constructively and professionally with service users, staff, colleagues and external agencies.
• 4. Motivated and able to organise, plan and prioritise workload on own initiative.
• 5. Ability to work flexibly and cooperatively, balancing multiple responsibilities.
• 6. Ability to manage own well-being.
• 7. Able to provide own transport or use public transport.

Qualifications

Essential

• 1. Demonstrable commitment to ongoing professional and personal development.

Desirable

• 2. Relevant professional qualification (e.g. social work, nursing, occupational therapy).
• 3. Degree level qualification.

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• 1. A good understanding of the psychological and practical needs of people with severe mental health problems and those of their carers/ families.
• 2. Clinical skills in a range of psycho-educational / therapeutic interventions.
• 3. Ability to take responsibility for own caseload.
• 4. Thorough understanding of equal opportunities with particular emphasis on how it applies to users of mental health services.
• 5. Good level of keyboard and information technology skills, including word processing, email and internet; ability to produce correspondence and reports.

Desirable

• 6. A good understanding of primary, secondary care and third sector mental health services.
• 7. A good awareness of different models of understanding of mental health.
• 8. Experience of inputting data onto clinical systems.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Forge Health Group

Address

Pitsmoor Surgery

151 Burngreave Road

Sheffield

S3 9DL

Employer's website

https://www.forgehealthgroup.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)