Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP)

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our established primary care mental health service who look after the adult population of Mount View Practice & Broadway Medical Centre. This is a training position and is full time through UCLAN. The service offers an individualized, IAPT compliant approach to Primary Care Mental Health. Our service endeavours to ensure that our patients experience the appropriate treatment for a wide range of mental health issues, focusing on the use of Cognitive Behavioural based therapy, solution focused therapy and problem solving approaches; the use of self-help literature and psycho-educational groups; with an emphasis on general well-being.

The Post holder will be expected to complete some group work interventions.

Main duties of the job

• To provide high quality primary care IAPT services to adults with mild to moderate mental health problems.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of team policies and procedure.
• To deliver IAPT services in accordance with NICE guidelines, within agreed activity levels and model, meeting required key performance indicators (KPIs).
• To provide advice and consultation on client’s care to other clinicians and to non-professional carers.
• To promote wellbeing and social inclusion.
• To work flexibly and in accordance with service demands.
• To work to the agreed number of clinical contacts per week as set by the Team Lead.

About us

The team consists of RMN's, PWP's and HITs. We are a forward thinking organisation enabling us to look holistically at the needs of the local population.

Job responsibilities

Communication and Relationship Skills

• To communicate and liaise where appropriate with all other professionals involved in the individual client’s treatment and on-going mental health care.
• To provide regular information to clients, GP and/or referrer about the treatment process and outcome, initial and on-going risk assessments, making appropriate disclosure and onward referrals where necessary.
• To provide reports as required by the team lead, service manager, clinical leads and others as requested in order to facilitate effective communication with referring agencies and commissioners.
• To improve wellbeing through interventions and encouraging access to other agencies that provide social prescribing and promotes social inclusion.

Analytical and Judgement Skills

• To make decisions regarding suitability for therapy and clinical pathways with particular regard to issues of risk and onward referrals to other specialist services as required.
• To formulate and implement treatment plans with clients, normally within an agreed brief structured timeframe and contracted number of sessions by offering NICE compliant one-to-one interventions, NICE compliant group interventions and online therapy.
• To exercise sound theoretical knowledge of evidence based psychological intervention and to employ a range of short term interventions to meet the needs of the referred client.

Planning and Organisational Skills

• To manage own clinical caseload within guidelines provided by the team lead and relevant professional guidelines and ethical frameworks (PWP Code of Practice).
• To provide a level of activity in accordance with service level agreements and as agreed by team lead.
• To contribute to in-service training events through presentations, with information relating to good working practice, special projects and procedural changes.

Physical Skills

• Ability to sit for therapeutic work (up to 5 hours a day).
• Ability to sit at a desk and work at a computer for data/clinical notes inputting purpose.

Patient and Client Care

• To exercise professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients referred by GPs, members of the IAPT team and other appropriate health and social care professionals.
• To assess and provide interventions to clients presenting with multiple and complex personal difficulties including those arising from mild to moderate mental health difficulties, based on accurate understanding and utilising a conceptual framework of the clients difficulties within the bounds of low intensity therapy.
• To be able to work with a range of client presentations including ambivalence and resistance in order to facilitate a client’s ability to explore a range of life issues which frequently are of a distressing emotional nature.
• To maintain the highest professional standards of practice by undertaking regular professional/clinical supervision, caseload management supervision and appraisal in keeping with professional body and trust guidelines.
• To improve wellbeing and social inclusion through interventions and encouraging access to other agencies that provide social prescribing and which promote social inclusion.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development

• To contribute to the development, implementation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and service.

Responsibility for Finance

• To maintain effective use of resources.
• To ensure that clinical time is used as effectively as possible.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• To contribute to the induction and orientation process of new members of the team and trainees.

Responsibility for Information Resources

• To provide monthly clinical activity data.
• To provide appropriate statistical returns.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and responsible exercise of professional self-governance.
• To ensure electronic recording of clinical activity meets the required standards, recorded accurately and in a timely fashion to meet the timely reporting of KPIs.
• To have basic keyboard skills and be able to use Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel.

Research and Development

• To contribute toward appropriate research project management, audit and service evaluation with colleagues within the service to help to develop service provision.

Freedom to Act

• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are appropriate for low intensity therapy.

Other

• To continue to develop the skills of a reflective practitioner by conducting regular personal audit and evaluation of clinical work and by maintaining an active engagement with current development in the field of psychological therapy.
• To develop knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to primary care adult mental health services.
• The post holder is expected to demonstrate and champion the Trust’s Values at all times.
• The post holder would need to demonstrate energy, drive and enthusiasm for the role.
• The post holder would be expected to have excellent interpersonal skills.
• Positive working behaviour is expected at all times.
• The post holder would be expected to meet deadlines and deliver on all objectives set.
• The Post Holder would need to demonstrate the highest level of accountability through their work.

The range of duties and responsibilities outlined above are indicative only and are intended to give a broad flavour of the range and type of duties that will be allocated. They are subject to modification in the light of changing service demands and the development requirements of the post holder.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Applicants must show evidence of recent Level 6 study from a recognised institute of higher education for postgraduate study and level for graduate study.
• All students on this programme must be in a position to work with patients in a low intensity improving access to psychological therapies service and must produce written support from their employers to do this.
• All students must be able to complete the 45 days training.
• A satisfactory DBS is required for this course.
• 2 Years experience in working within a Mental Health Setting.

Skills & Abilities

• Highly developed interpersonal skills and communication skills both oral and written.
• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration responding and participating as required.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.
• Ability to cope and deal with highly distressing emotional circumstances.
• Ability to cope with unpleasant working conditions.
• Evidence of ability to organise own workload.
• Basic keyboard skills.

Experience

• Experience of collaborative work in the NHS.
• Experience of working with a diverse client group with a wide range of presenting problems and significant levels of distress.
• Experience of delivering group work.
• Experience of delivering online therapy.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£14.52 to £15.93 an hour Band 4 Equivalent whilst training.