Liaison and Diversion Practitioner

We are looking for registered health or social care professionals to work in a team in a fast-paced criminal justice environment. You will need to be an NMC, SWE or HCPC registered practitioner with some relevant health or social care service experience and have significant demonstrable post registration experience.

Liaison and Diversion is a service where people of all ages with a wide range of vulnerabilities are identified and assessed as early as possible as they pass through the Youth and Criminal Justice Systems.

For this post, you will work in police custody and complete triage assessments with people whilst they are detained there (from the age of ten). You will work closely with the police, your assessment and information gathering will support that person across the offender pathway. Depending on a person’s criminal justice journey this may include Courts and Probation and the wider health and social care systems in the community.

Whilst the team all perform the Liaison and Diversion Practitioner role, your colleagues come from a range of professional backgrounds including social workers, paramedics, midwives, health visitors, approved mental health professionals, physical health nurses and a learning disability nurse. In this role your criminal justice knowledge will greatly expand, so we welcome applicants who have not worked in this area as we can provide training and your knowledge will develop as you work across the team.

We are looking for two posts at 33.5 hours per week. Your primary role will be to complete holistic triage assessments for people who have been arrested and brought to police custody. You will possess excellent interpersonal skills that will enable you to challenge, motivate, influence, and inspire at all levels. As part of a small team, you will work various shift patterns comprising of mostly 9-hour shifts, to enable the service to cover extended hours, seven days per week, 365 days a year.

The working criminal justice locations include Police Investigation Centres (PIC’s), Courts and other supporting criminal justice/health environments in line with service need. However, this role will primarily work inside the PIC (custody). The service covers both Norfolk and Suffolk and may require some cross county working. It is essential that you can travel independently.

In this role you will have a choice of base across the two counties, these are Great Yarmouth, Aylsham, Wymondham, Kings Lynn, Martlesham and Bury St Edmunds.

**Benefits**:
**Benefits included with this role are**:
- NHS pension
- Comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- Career progression
- Starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days Per annum based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- Staff physio service
- Gym membership
- NHS discounts and many more

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly, and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.

NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety of definitions of CPD across the professions, but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.

CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with the commitment of the necessary time and resources.
- Complete triage and screening of service users within custody to assess their needs and create plans with them for support post custody by making onward referrals and signposting. This will include speaking to detainees in consultation rooms or when required via the cell hatch. This is in consultation with police to plan the safest way forward.
- Co-production with service users in creating their next steps plan/safety plan including referrals to a wide range of agencies - such as Turning Point, Wellbeing, Secondary Mental Health services, Crisis and Home Treatment Teams, Survivors in Transition, CRUSE, Domestic Abuse support services. This may include referrals for Mental Health Act assessments in consultation with colleagues, managers, and care teams of those detained.
- Work collaboratively with police colleagues, promoting partnership working across the criminal justice system.
- Able to work independently on own initiative to meet the needs of service users.
- Ensure service users’ needs are accurately reflected in health record documentation.
- Assist service users and carers to access information and support

Please also look at our video which explains our service in more detail

Liaison and Diversion - Inside police custody - YouTube

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY