Crisis Outreach Practitioner

Suffolk County Council, Ipswich, IP1 5PF
- 30 hours per week
- Permanent
- **Operational hours for the service are 8am - 8pm, Monday - Friday, and 9am - 1pm weekends and bank holidays.**

**Job Details**
- Could you be our Ideal Worker?
- Are you compassionate, motivated, and want to make a difference to children and young people with mental health difficulties and their families?

Suffolk County Council, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the West Suffolk and East Suffolk and Ipswich CCGs have worked in partnership to create a multi-agency crisis outreach service.

The **Crisis Help and Risk Intervention Service (CHRIS) **is hosted by Suffolk County Council and provides support to children and young people in crisis (up to the age of 18 years old), their caregivers and professional networks, using a psycho-social model.

The outreach model of care provides intensive interventions, ensuring that children and young people living in East and West Suffolk can access the services that meet their needs at the right time, and forms part of the local Mental Health Crisis response pathway. This service wraps around services that currently work with children and young people and complements existing provision.

**Key responsibilities within the role will include**:

- working in conjunction with the Multidisciplinary Team to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and responsive care to service-users within the Crisis pathway in line with Best Practice guidelines and standards, identified needs, and the views and preferences of Children, Young People and their families
- working in partnership with other agencies and organisations to provide a consistent and joined up service experience for Children, Young People and their families
- promoting Recovery and Wellbeing, and maximising independence for Children, Young People and their families throughout the Crisis pathway.

**You will need**:

- excellent communication skills, and the ability to work flexibly and creatively.
- an openness to learning and a commitment to new ways of working.
- experience of forming safe, trusting, and collaborative relationships with Children, Young People and their families who may traditionally struggle to engage with services, and who may present with complex and significant mental health difficulties.
- an interest and commitment to continuous personal and professional development, and reflective practice.
- a strong commitment towards working in partnership with Children, Young People and their families
- resilience and the capacity to remain calm and thoughtful in high pressure or high-risk situations.

**The team**

We are fortunate to have an integrated health and social care multidisciplinary team who are highly committed and passionate about supporting young people, caregivers, and wider professional networks in times of crisis.

CHRIS wraps around any services that currently work with referred children and young people and the service is designed to complement existing provision, forming part of the Children and Young Peoples Mental Health Crisis Response pathway in Suffolk.

**Operational hours for the service are 8 am - 8 pm Mon - Fri, and 9 am - 1 pm weekends and bank holidays. You will be expected to participate in a shift rota system with other colleagues, to encompass service operational hours.**

**We will offer you**:

- a comprehensive clinical induction and learning and development programme, including training in the AMBIT and DBT approaches, suicide prevention and self-harm mitigation training amongst others
- access to on-going learning opportunities to support your continued development
- a robust and comprehensive package to support you within your role, including: access to NSFT and Suffolk County Council Wellbeing resources, high quality management and clinical supervision, monthly reflective practice groups, and twice weekly Multidisciplinary Team meetings
- the opportunity to be part of shaping and developing an essential new service for children, young people and families in Suffolk.

**Additional benefits include**:

- flexible working options and our commitment to supporting health and wellbeing
- staff networks which are open to staff, councillors and partners that share similar characteristics, life experiences, values and beliefs.

We positively encourage the use of technology to communicate, but in this role, you will need to travel to locations away from your contractual base, so you must either hold a full and current driving licence and have access to personal transport or meet the mobility requirements of the role through other reasonable and suitable means. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability to meet the travel requirements of this role, please speak with the contact detailed below.

This role is mainly based in the community; however, you may also have the opportunity to work from home occasionally and you will have an office base. If you wish to discuss