Practitioner - Criminal Justice Mental Health Service

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled practitioner, with an interest and/or experience in the criminal justice system, to be an integral part of both a court liaison and diversion team and a police custody suite assessment team. You will be working with both adults and young people, within what is a very interesting and rewarding area of care that is continuing to develop further.

As a front-line service, each day can be different in what is often a busy and unpredictable environment.

The service ethos is to proactively intervene at the earliest possible opportunity in the Criminal Justice system pathway, so that those in need of support receive appropriate care and treatment in a timely fashion.

The people we provide services to come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do but because it makes us better at what we do. No matter your age, gender, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, religion or sexual orientation, if you are committed to generating the best possible outcomes for our service users then we want to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

As a Liaison and Diversion Practitioner, some of the responsibilities you can expect will include:

Proactive screening of cases in police custody or at court.
On-the-day triaging and assessment - including full mental state examinations, risk assessment and gathering of background history for individuals presenting with a wide variety of established or suspected needs. These can include anxiety, challenging behaviour, serious mental illness, personality disorder, neurodiversity needs speech and language difficulties, substance misuse and associated social issues within police custody.
Responding to detainees who present with urgent and non-urgent clinical issues with appropriate interventions. Interventions may include onward referrals for a Mental Health Act assessment, advice, signposting or making onward referrals into primary, secondary or voluntary care agencies.
Providing advice, information and support to custody/court personnel.
Provision of written assessment summaries to police, court and other relevant agencies in the criminal justice pathway.
Liaising with CAMHS, YOT practitioners or other relevant agencies whilst screening young people.
Recording data for regular auditing and evaluation.

Some weekend/bank holiday working may be involved in the role.

About us

Benefits

comprehensive pay, pensions and leavers package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
Work life balance,flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.
Career development,There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
Car lease,our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars
Accommodation,our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
NHS discounts,with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.
We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. For this role, we offer career pathways to Senior clinical Practitioner or Clinical Team Leader. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development in Leadership and MSC programme.

Date posted

02 December 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£42,471 to £50,364 a year per annum inclusive of Inner London High Cost Allowances

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

334-NUR-6435137-LF-B

Job locations

Bridge House Lambeth Hospital

Landor Road

London

SW9 9NT

Job description

Job responsibilities

To work with colleagues, police, custody healthcare staff and other custody/court staff (inc Appropriate Adults) in order to provide a comprehensive and integrated vulnerability screening and assessment service.

To demonstrate strong assessment skills, solid problem solving and decision making and developing holistic and patient centred care plans whilst also being able to recognise when they may need senior clinical/managerial advice/support and to actively seek this in the clinical setting.

To facilitate appropriate signposting to/referring on, or interventions in close collaboration and liaison with other relevant agencies. Developing a good working knowledge and understanding of local services and pathways will be important in this role. Knowledge of clinical pathways will enable the applicant in the ambition of facilitating a persons diversion away from the criminal justice pathway at the earliest possible opportunity. (The term diversion being used in its widest possible sense and includes urgent and non-urgent pathways).

Demonstrate effective communication with colleagues, partners and stakeholders and with people in vulnerable groups. The candidates approach will be inclusive, collaborative and helpful. Communication types include verbal, written and digital methods of communication. Competent digital skills will be needed for this role.

To actively promote relationships with colleagues that support open communication and collaborative working, taking personal responsibility for one's contribution to this process at all times.

To maintain a high standard of written communication that is mindful of the readership and takes into account the legal context. Written work will also involve recording appropriate events and observations to evidence interventions.

Proactively seek service user feedback about their experiences of liaison and diversion to inform and shape our service.

Please see the combined job description and person specification for more details of the role.

IMPORTANT

Please note this position is offered subject to a successful Police Vetting application that will enable you to enable work in police custody locations. As such, you will be subjected to a significantly higher level of vetting than is standard. This vetting is conducted by the Metropolitan Police andis essentially a detailed background check. One of the most essential criteria is that you are required to have resided in the UK for at least 3 years.

This requirement is a lengthy process that could add several months to the existing pre-employment checks that will be conducted before a start date can be agreed for this position. If you are successful at interview and we wish to take forward your application, please be assured we are really keen to have you with us and we ask you for your patience with any undue delay that is outside our control.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To actively promote relationships with colleagues that support open communication and collaborative working, taking personal responsibility for one's contribution to this process at all times.

Proactively seek service user feedback about their experiences of liaison and diversion to inform and shape our service.

Please see the combined job description and person specification for more details of the role.

IMPORTANT

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oNursing & Midwifery Registered or equivalent MH Professional Registration (e.g. CQSW, OT, DipSW. British Psychology Society registered Psychologists*) (AI)

Experience

Essential

Demonstrable appropriate post qualifying experience of working with vulnerable persons within a community or inpatient MH setting (A)
Demonstrable evidence of transferable knowledge, skills, competencies and related activities that is applicable, relevant and replicable to working in Liaison and Diversion (AI)

Desirable

Experience of delivering mental health assessment, treatment and care interventions in a criminal justice system setting or in other non specialist settings (A)
Experience of working across organisational and agency boundaries in front line crisis services. (AI)

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Thorough knowledge and understanding of the needs of vulnerable adults, how they present (inc risk) and the challenges of offering treatment and care. (AI)
Skilled in the assessment and management of risk and safeguarding. (AI)
Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care. (AI)
Ability to communicate clearly, concisely and confidently to a range of other professionals including those without specialist MH training or knowledge. (AI)
An ability to develop a therapeutic relationship. (A)
Ability to present information both written and oral and communicate this effectively (AI)
Ability to role model, reflect and provide evidence of conflict resolution (AI)
Ability to work in a changing and challenging environment inc. demonstration of strong time management skills (AI)
Skills in the use of evidence based interventions (A)

Desirable

Working knowledge and/or experience of the criminal justice system (AI)
Knowledge of appropriate mental health legislation and relevant national policy developments in Offender Health. (AI)
Skilled in the assessment and monitoring of common physical health problems and able to deliver appropriate care. (A)
Ability to work independently and autonomously in a multi agency context. (A)
Demonstrable experience with client information computer database systems and Mobile/remote technology (AI)
Knowledge and/or demonstrable practice around Trauma Informed care. (AI)
Experience in audit and research activity (A)

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oNursing & Midwifery Registered or equivalent MH Professional Registration (e.g. CQSW, OT, DipSW. British Psychology Society registered Psychologists*) (AI)

Experience

Essential

Demonstrable appropriate post qualifying experience of working with vulnerable persons within a community or inpatient MH setting (A)
Demonstrable evidence of transferable knowledge, skills, competencies and related activities that is applicable, relevant and replicable to working in Liaison and Diversion (AI)

Desirable

Experience of delivering mental health assessment, treatment and care interventions in a criminal justice system setting or in other non specialist settings (A)
Experience of working across organisational and agency boundaries in front line crisis services. (AI)

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Thorough knowledge and understanding of the needs of vulnerable adults, how they present (inc risk) and the challenges of offering treatment and care. (AI)
Skilled in the assessment and management of risk and safeguarding. (AI)
Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care. (AI)
Ability to communicate clearly, concisely and confidently to a range of other professionals including those without specialist MH training or knowledge. (AI)
An ability to develop a therapeutic relationship. (A)
Ability to present information both written and oral and communicate this effectively (AI)
Ability to role model, reflect and provide evidence of conflict resolution (AI)
Ability to work in a changing and challenging environment inc. demonstration of strong time management skills (AI)
Skills in the use of evidence based interventions (A)

Desirable

Working knowledge and/or experience of the criminal justice system (AI)
Knowledge of appropriate mental health legislation and relevant national policy developments in Offender Health. (AI)
Skilled in the assessment and monitoring of common physical health problems and able to deliver appropriate care. (A)
Ability to work independently and autonomously in a multi agency context. (A)
Demonstrable experience with client information computer database systems and Mobile/remote technology (AI)
Knowledge and/or demonstrable practice around Trauma Informed care. (AI)
Experience in audit and research activity (A)

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).