Assistant Practitioner

NHS; Bulwell; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization is seeking an Assistant Practitioner to join their Live Team. This role involves coordinating therapeutic activities to enhance patient engagement and wellbeing across various mental health settings. The ideal candidate will have experience in mental health care and strong communication skills, contributing to a positive and collaborative environment.

Benefits

Career Development Opportunities

Employee Support Networks

Qualifications

• Experience working with individuals with mental health needs.
• Ability to carry out physical requirements of the role.

Responsibilities

• Identify and facilitate meaningful engagement opportunities.
• Lead on project management and coordination of activities.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Problem Solving

Education

NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care

Secondary Education Grades 4-9

Tools

Microsoft Office

Creative Design Software

Job description

Go back Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Assistant Practitioner

The closing date is 21 May 2025

Are you looking for a different, creative and rewarding role?

Do you have experience working in Mental Health and want to make a difference?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Practitioner role for the Live Team.

We are a small team based at Highbury Hospital but work across mental health inpatient wards and units, on a variety of sites. We work collaboratively with staff, patients & community providers - to enhance patient involvement, engagement & experience.

Underpinned by Occupational Therapy, the Live Team do this through the 5 Ways to Wellbeing - delivering, funding & co-ordinating holistic meaningful activity, events & opportunities. This could include sports, yoga, music, pottery, social groups, animal roadshows - no two days are the same!

We are seeking an individual, with skills & knowledge of working with people within mental healthcare, using a recovery focused approach. The post holder will contribute to & co-ordinate a range of projects, collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams & services, including wider organisations and agencies to establish strategic partnerships - developing the teams existing clinical activity & pathways.

We are looking for someone who will role-model and provide guidance and direction to others with the ability to engage with a range of people, from a variety of backgrounds, roles and interests.

We provide access to career development opportunities, that will help you grow and succeed.

Main duties of the job

• To identify, plan, co-ordinate, facilitate and review a diverse range of meaningful engagement opportunities, under the 5 Ways to Wellbeing.
• To lead on the co-ordination and dissemination of the timetabling of the above activity for the Live Team, across multiple sites.
• To actively role model and contribute to a positive culture and environment in which meaningful activity and engagement is valued and provided.
• To create and maintain links and partnerships with both internal and external providers and services - in a way that has a clinically evidence-based rationale and meets the strategic need of the Live Team and wider Trust.
• To support others and lead on short and long-term project management, including task planning, finance management (under the supervision of the Budget Holder), implementation and outcome measurement.
• To source, manage and (under the supervision of the budget holder) utilise charitable funds for services and resource procurement.
• To contribute to the administrative tasks and co-ordination of the Live Team service, across various systems and applications.To use evidence-based knowledge and experience to guide, support and upskill students, team members and wider services, as appropriate and necessary to develop meaning engagement practices.

About us

#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic, and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.

We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire's biggest employers. We also host national and regional services, such as the National High Secure Deaf Service and the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.

We offer a variety of employee-led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in-house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.

The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net-zero commitment

Job responsibilities

To support and lead in the development and co-ordination of a range of therapeutic activities, engagement opportunities and events. These shall contribute to the holistic enhancement of the inpatient engagement, involvement and experience to aid wellbeing and recovery. The role will also contribute to and support with the co-ordination of wider team and service developments including therapeutic timetables, charitable fund and grants management, student placements coordination and supervision and wider workforce development initiatives.

Person Specification:

The appropriate person will have:

The ability to carry out physical requirements of the role, such as practical tasks and physical activity-based sessions

A good level of qualification and training, such as Secondary Education Grades 4-9, NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care or Equivalent and a willingness to undertaken further training

Experience and knowledge of Mental Health Service and working safely within inpatient setting

Experience and Knowledge of organising, facilitating and reviewing activities, events and groups

A variety of practical skills, including those to deliver activity under the 5 Ways to Wellbeing

IT Skills and Experience, such as Microsoft, Teams and creative design software/apps

The ability to travel to a range of sites regularly, either by public transport or own transport

Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £26.40 (standard) or £54.40 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first 2 months of employment.

You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. An annual fee of £16 per year applies.

Person Specification

Contractual Requirements

• Must be able to travel to a range of sites by own or by public transport

Physical Requirement

• Ability to carry out practical tasks
• Ability to facilitate sessions under out 'Be Active' pathway.

Training

• Willingness to undertake training in response to service need
• Project or Event Management
• CPD relating to therapeutic approaches

Experience and Knowledge

• Experience of working with individuals with mental health needs
• Experience of planning and delivering therapeutic activities with individuals and groups
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Experience of liaising with various community agencies
• Experience of working in a team
• Experience of using, under guidance, budgets and monies
• Experience and awareness of therapeutic reasoning and approaches found across AHP disciplines
• Experience of working across different organisational boundaries
• Experience of organising events
• Experience supporting team members, such as volunteers or students.
• Experience of administration tasks and systems found within the NHS.
• Experience of fundraising, charitable bodies and grants
• Experience of using and reporting on data sets

Skills

• Variety of practical skills, such as creative, physical and horticulture based skills
• Excellent written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Use of relevant IT systems as required including social medias
• Ability to demonstrate empathy and maintain an honest and non-judgemental manner
• Ability to respond flexibly and adapt to changing situations
• Knows own limitations and when to seek help
• Good team working skills, including working with registered professionals
• Ability to use problem solving skills to work in an enabling and creative way
• Ability to maintain a healthy home/work life balance
• Ability to manage stress, to plan, organise and prioritise a wide and varied workload
• Computer literate in Microsoft office
• Contribution to quality initiatives and improvement projects
• Creative software skills, for promotion and communications
• Demonstrate knowledge of evidence-based and recovery focused practice
• Experience of having difficult conversations and supporting the wellbeing of others

Qualifications

• Good level of Secondary Education i.e. grades 4-9 at GCSE or equivalent knowledge and experience
• NVQ Level 3 qualification within Health Care or equivalent

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.

Employer name

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

£26,530 to £29,114 a yearper annum (pro rata for part time)