Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner

We are seeking to recruit a passionate, knowledgeable and dynamic Mental Health Practitioner to join our well-established Community Mental Health Liaison Service. The role will be to offer mental health consultation, advice to schools within West Sussex in relation to suicide prevention. To direct children and their families to the most appropriate service in order to meet their emotional well-being needs and to work within the framework of early intervention, promotion and prevention.

The role will report to the General Manager leading on CAMHS Suicide prevention.

The role will also offer a variety of short
- term evidence based therapeutic interventions to children, young people and their families and to hold a small case load to reduce risk.

You will be expected to work closely with partner agencies including education and Social Care, Police and Third sector organisations.

Part of the role will also be to be able to signpost to other appropriate services including are specialist CAMHS teams and other commissioned services across the designated area working closely with the newly launched Single Point of Access.

You will be joining a friendly, supportive and creative multi-disciplinary team, dedicated to providing a high-quality service which complements the work done by our wider CAMHS colleagues and in liaison/partnership with other key young people's services.

**As a CMHL practitioner you will/will be expected to**:
1. Provide, opportunities for information, support, advice in promoting the mental health needs of children and young people.
2. Actively promote collaborative working.
3. Support and enable colleagues in working with children, young people and their families
4. To work as part of the wider CMHL team and participate in all aspects of service delivery to the cohort of schools identified.
5. To participate in the developing role of community mental health liaison in the county.
6. To identify gaps in services and communicate these to the Locality Manager.
7. You will have the flexibility to manage your workload in the community

You will hold a small caseload of clients identified between you and the schools, who need assessments, care plans and you will implement and evaluate and any agreed evidence-based interventions, which will be delivered in the school setting

We provide mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

**Working in Sussex**:

- Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns there’s always new experiences to be enjoyed
- Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London
- With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure

We’d love you to join our organisation that is rated ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring by the Care Quality Commission. Our staff agree, with 82% of people in our recent staff survey telling us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

**Other key staff survey results include**:

- 70% highlighting flexible working opportunities as a key point for satisfaction at work
- 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work within their team
- 77% identifying the opportunities to show initiative in their roles

In order to be a successful Community Mental Health Practitioner in our team you will be:

- Registered with the NMC or HCPC via a core professional qualification - Applications are welcomed from OT’s, Nurses, Social Workers, Drama/Art Therapists, Psychologists
- Experienced in risk management
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced and varied role
- Experienced working within a mental health setting

**It would also be advantageous if you are**:

- Experienced working in CAMHS (Children and Young People’s mental health services)

The role is 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday

Part-time hours can be considered - Minimum 22.5 hrs per week.

**Main duties**:

- To provide a Consultation Service to the identified group of Schools and Education settings and to take referrals directly from schools where there are concerns and risk
- To decide on an appropriate course of action with the professionals involved, providing advice, support and knowledge of appropriate resources for the emotional wellbeing of children, young people and their families.
- To deliver specialist evidence based therapeutic interventions with a small caseload of children and families, keeping abreast of current training and practice in such areas.
- To provide support & guidance to others with the aim of improving skills, knowledge and facilitating reflective practice.
- To participate in relevant ChYPS meetings and provide a link between community mental health liaison and Community CAMHS.