Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Practitioner in Bognor Regis

We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.

At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.

We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.

The Bognor Assessment & Treatment Service is a community mental health team which supports people living with a severe and enduring mental illness. The MHLP team is part of the Bognor Assessment and Treatment Service and work as liaison between the ATS and GP Surgeries. The post holder will work within GP surgeries and will be the liaison and link between primary care and secondary care services.

We are looking for an experienced Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner (Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist and Social Worker) to work within GP Surgeries to provide up to 10 sessions of psychologically informed or psycho educational interventions to people with moderate mental health problems. The successful applicant will also be responsible for completing initial assessments and liaising with GPs, IAPT services, local agencies and signposting to third sector services.

Main duties of the job include:

• Working autonomously to a defined caseload of clients diagnosed with mild to moderate mental health problems, offering specific interventions such as psycho-education, CBT informed sessions and short term recovery focused interventions.
• Completing initial assessments and working closely with referrals coordinators, GPs and other agencies.
• Providing a pre-defined offer of 6-8 sessions of intervention.
• Co-facilitating groups if interested.

What you will receive from us:

• A friendly and supportive team that meets regularly to ensure you feel safe and supported.
• Several MDT meetings per week to ensure support is available for complex case discussions.
• Regular managerial supervision and the opportunity to supervise junior staff.
• Access to regular clinical supervision and support from Community Leads.
• Encouragement to think about development and career goals, with support to complete further training.

To work as part of the secondary care mental health service, acting as a link clinician to primary care teams. Clinical work will be carried out within primary care settings.

To work with GPs and primary care teams, specifically colleagues in IAPT (Time to talk), providing support, advice, consultation and shared care for adults, regardless of age and diagnosis, presenting with a functional mental illness, to enable safe management of clients within primary care.

To assess individuals with complex presentations, prior to referral to secondary care and if required, directing them into the appropriate specialist service within secondary care ensuring they are not passed between services.

To maintain a close working relationship with local secondary care teams, keeping them informed of developments within primary care.

To build up professional relationships within Primary Care to allow effective development of care pathways within localities.

To work closely with secondary care colleagues, using their expertise where necessary, to ensure an appropriate response, particularly, but not exclusively from medical colleagues.

To ensure and keep updated a comprehensive knowledge of local resources and services available and how to access these and provide this information to practices and specialist teams as requested.

To provide comprehensive and accurate information on the role of the Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Practitioner, local resources and services to GPs, primary care teams, secondary care teams, service users and third sector agencies.

To work to early intervention principles and provide assessments for service users with more complex presentations identified in consultation with GPs.

To organise, provide and coordinate formal and informal training to GPs and primary care teams on topics relating to mental health as agreed with GPs and PBCs, in order to further enhance the skills of the staff in the diagnosis and management of mental health disorders.

ESSENTIAL:

• Registered Mental Health qualification or equivalent.
• Post Basic Courses / relevant Study Days.
• Evidence of CPD.
• Post-qualifying experience of clinical work with people with a range of mental health problems.
• Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non-statutory teams and agencies.
• Experience of successfully managing a caseload and prioritising clinical work.
• Experience of providing a range of clinical interventions to people with a variety of mental health problems.
• Experience of working consultatively with professionals.
• Experienced in conducting clinical assessments, including risk assessments.

SPFT is committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and from disabled candidates, as these groups are currently underrepresented.

Successful candidates are normally appointed to the bottom of the pay scale unless previous NHS experience in a similar role can be evidenced.

SPFT takes its responsibilities for safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk very seriously. We expect all staff and bank workers to share this commitment and complete the relevant safeguarding training for their role.

If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful. However, we’ll always do our best to keep you informed as we know how much time and care goes into applying for a role.

In the event of a high number of applications, we may close this vacancy early.