Mental Health Practitioner, Nurse, Social Worker, OT

Overview

Are you passionate about ensuring our British Armed Forces Veterans and Reservists have access to excellent mental health care?

Op Courage - South East offers support to Veterans and Reservists within the geographical regions of Kent, Surrey and Sussex. A veteran is an individual who has served one or more days in the British military, and it is this group of people that Op Courage works with on a holistic level.

We cover Kent, Surrey and Sussex and deliver assessments, support and psychological therapy within our Op Courage team. This post will be based in and cover the Sussex region with some travel expected to Surrey and Kent as well when required.

Main duties of the job

• To provide comprehensive assessments of veterans with identified, complex needs.
• To manage a caseload of veterans with complex mental health needs and undertake case management/lead professional role as needed.
• Offer psychoeducational, coping skills and support through a period of stabilisation as needed.
• This is a community based service, providing a holistic support package of care to veterans across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
• To be able to communicate with and meet the needs of veteran's families and carers, as well as providing professional advice and support to other agencies including crisis teams and secondary care teams.
• To have experience of and specialist knowledge of interventions for veterans, and to be able to lead on clinical initiatives with an emphasis on continual improvement.
• To receive management supervision from the Clinical Nurse Specialist or equivalent.
• This role works to enhance already existing services such as community mental health teams, crisis services and charitable organisations rather than replace them - the aim is to improve Veteran service engagement and ensure that Veterans can fairly access the appropriate support they require and are not disadvantaged due to their veteran status.

About us

We are an expanding and exciting specialist service within SPFT, working regionally in the southeast and nationally as part of the NHS armed forces networks for Op Courage.

Support the Trust's visions and values and in particular the promotion of a positive approach to diversity, equality, rights, and treating others with dignity and respect; to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage in service delivery and employment, and to manage, support or comply by adhering to the Trust's Equality and Diversity Policy.

This post offers the Trust's £2,000 Golden Hello or Relocation Incentive for Band 6 Nurses & Practitioners, (pro rata and subject to terms and conditions; please see attached Protocol Document for full details).

Job responsibilities

• The role of the Mental Health Practitioner in Op Courage works in partnership with service users with complex health presentations, developing their care plans and recovery plans to enable them to lead fulfilling lives.
• You will demonstrate an understanding of clinical interventions relevant to a veteran population to include education, care plans and discharge planning, working closely with carers, families and partner agencies to facilitate this.
• The post holder will always work to promote the safety and the wellbeing of service users and their families/carers. The post holder will assess, plan and implement care, and provide specialist clinical advice and carry out specialist clinical procedures.
• You will provide clinical supervision to staff and students.

Person Specification

• Registered Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist with current registration mental health/LD/Adult , appropriate to the job role / Completion of Mentorship Course/ENB equivalent
• Evidence of continuous professional development

Knowledge/Experience

• Significant post qualifying experience in the relevant care group
• Experience of working alongside people with complex health problems in the designated care group
• Experience of supervising staff
• Experience of providing a range of clinical interventions to people in the designated care group with a variety of health problems
• Experience of working consultatively with professionals
• Experience of conducting clinical assessments including risk assessments
• Experience of partnership working within and across various statutory and non statutory teams and agencies
• Experience of working within the CPA process
• Understanding of clinical governance
• Previous experience of working in the community

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).