Older Adult Practitioner

Job summary

This is an exciting time to join Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as a Nurse or Occupational Therapist

The North and South Derbyshire Dales Older Adult Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) and Living Well Team are looking for an enthusiastic Band 6 Older Adult Specialist to join their friendly and supportive teams based in Ashbourne and Matlock.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will need to have experience of working with older adults with functional mental health conditions, in a community setting.

This newly developed role, hosted by the Older Adults CMHT will involve supporting introductions into the Living Well Team, identifying the needs of older adults with mental health needs who live within the local community, designing and implementing person-centred support to enable people to live their best life.

This will include working with colleagues across the local community to ensure that we provide the right service at the right time by the right person.

The role is supported by the Older Adult CMHT but working into the Living Well Team to deliver on the ageless element of the CMHF offer.

Living Well is a locality-based, multi-agency team, offering seamless support from agencies by placing the person at the centre of their support needs. A core aspect of the framework is supporting those who may not have been eligible to access secondary mental health support previously.

The successful candidate will need to have the ability to travel across the geographical area.

About us

The Derbyshire Dales Older Adult teams OA are friendly and supportive, always making sure that our team members are valued, encouraged to be professionally curious and welcomed to share thoughts and ideas.

The role of the Living Well Practitioner works into both the Older Adult and the Living Well Team and will support the two teams to partially integrate to ensure that the Older people in the area have access to the Living Well ageless offer.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be clinically responsible for supporting the delivery of a flexible, responsive local service, taking forward an Integrated Wellbeing Pathway in the designated locality, which effectively supports the delivery of the Community Mental Health Framework. The post holder will work collaboratively with colleagues, key partners, and those within the local community to develop services to meet the mental health needs of the community.

The post holder will employ a wide range of skills, building on and developing their expertise and actively seeking advice and collaboration with issues which may not be readily within their sphere of practice. The requirements for this post are to remain within the guidelines for professional practice inclusive of HCPC/NMC requirements or equivalent professional body.

The role will involve undertaking comprehensive person-centred psychosocial assessments (conversations), risk assessments and formulation of presenting mental health needs. The practitioner will build therapeutic relationships, develop a plan of care with that person and assist them through their difficult time by empowering and enabling them to take control over their health.

The role involves supporting and motivating individuals to improve their mental health by helping them develop self-care skills, build resilience, and better utilise community resources. A key part of this developing role will be to make and maintain relationships with community partners including statutory organisations, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations and the local communities who we serve. Hearing and responding to the voice of lived experience is a key element for developing this service.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Applicant holds the relevant qualification for the post (Diploma in Nursing/Degree in Mental Health Nursing) Degree in Occupational Therapy

Desirable

Applicant holds an assessor qualification Applicant has undertaken further training relevant to the role

Experience

Essential

Post qualification experience in the relevant field Applicant has experience in working with Older people with functional mental health diagnoses Applicant has some experience of community working

Desirable

Applicant has some experience of linking with partner agencies

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