Mental Health Trainer

Training in this sector is too often a slideshow that people sit through and forget. We are looking for a trainer who can change what staff actually do at three in the morning when someone is distressed, frightened and lashing out. Unicare is a CQC-registered, nurse-led provider of supported living, community outreach and complex care. We support adults and young people with mental health needs, autism, learning disabilities, trauma histories and behaviours that others find challenging, across nine supported living services and a growing community and complex care operation. Our staff work with people who self-injure, who become physically aggressive, who have been through repeated placement breakdowns and years of restrictive care. The quality of the training they receive is the difference between a placement that holds and one that fails and between a restrictive intervention that was necessary and one that should never have happened. This is a role for someone who knows that from practice, not from a manual.

What you will do

• Design and deliver training across mental health, positive behaviour support, trauma-informed care, de-escalation and restrictive practice.
• Deliver certified training in physical intervention and restrictive practice, and lead our restraint reduction message from the front of the room.
• Teach staff to understand mental health presentations properly: psychosis, mood disorders, anxiety, personality disorder, self-harm and suicidality, trauma responses, eating disorders, dual diagnosis, non-epileptic seizures and what good support looks like for each.
• Assess and sign off practical competence, and keep the records that prove it.
• Go into services and work alongside teams, not just deliver in a training room.
• Support managers and team leaders after incidents, with reflective practice and targeted refresher input.
• Evaluate whether the training is working, using incident and restrictive practice data, and change it when it is not.

What you will bring

• Substantial hands-on experience in mental health, learning disability or complex behaviour services - you have done the work, not only taught it.
• A recognised teaching or training qualification, or the willingness to complete one.
• Current certification to deliver training with a restrictive intervention component, compliant with the Restraint Reduction Network Training Standards or eligibility and willingness to be certified to our curriculum.
• Real working knowledge of positive behaviour support and trauma-informed practice.
• The credibility to hold a room of experienced support workers, and the humility to learn from them.
• A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle.

What we offer

• A training function that is taken seriously - clinical judgement sits alongside operational management here, not underneath it.
• The autonomy to design your own curriculum rather than deliver someone else's slides.
• Funded certification, CPD and, where applicable, revalidation support.

We particularly welcome applications from trainers who have supported teams through serious incidents and can talk honestly about what they learned. To apply, send your CV and a short covering note to [email]. For an informal conversation about the role, contact [name, title, telephone number]. Unicare Complex Care Specialist Ltd is an equal opportunities employer. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references. We are committed to safeguarding adults and children.