Band 6 Drug and Alcohol Practitioner - South West

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust; Weston-super-Mare; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is recruiting a Band 6 Drug and Alcohol Practitioner for the South West region. The post is based in Weston-super-Mare with a hybrid working model, combining homeworking and access to clinical spaces or hot-desks.

You will join a multidisciplinary team delivering focused drug and alcohol pathways across a wide footprint, including travel for regional meetings and training.

Qualifications

• Professional qualification and registration in health/social care.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Post-registration experience in alcohol/drug services.
• Ability to work autonomously within a multidisciplinary team.

Responsibilities

• Provide defined drug and alcohol service to an allocated caseload and deliver quality care.
• Assess needs and plan and implement treatment and care with the MDT.
• Coordinate care and evaluate care across settings.
• Deliver care via face-to-face, online, or telephone contact.
• Facilitate access to housing, employment, education, and substance misuse support.
• Support families and carers to understand recovery journey.
• Travel within the Southwest for appointments and training as required.

Skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Liaison skills

Education

Health/social care qualification & registration

CPD evidence

Post-registration experience

Job description

Band 6 Drug and Alcohol Practitioner - South West

Southwest Op Courage Integrated Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service covers Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset; our operational base is in Weston-super-Mare. The service is one of six national NHS England-commissioned Op Courage services.

Op Courage provides a complete pathway and is delivered by a multi-disciplinary team which includes nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, support workers, and operational and administrative staff. This starts with a comprehensive needs-led conversation in line with Your Team, Your Care and Your Plan; it is followed by evidence-based interventions and treatment for a wide range of need and complexity, from the early signs of mental health problems through to complex mental health difficulties and psychological trauma.

The service is delivered via a hybrid working model which entails a mix of homeworking and utilising clinical spaces or hot-desks. Clinical care and interventions are delivered face to face or virtually, in line with patient choice and clinical and/or operational need. The post-holder will need to live within the Southwest and cover an agreed area, and will be assigned to their nearest AWP base. The post-holder will also be expected to travel to attend face-to-face Trust training and meetings, which will be within the Op Courage footprint but may be outside their general working area.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will need strong clinical skills in assessment, safety assessment, and safety planning, and the ability to provide therapeutic interventions. They will be expected to operate within legislative frameworks -- the Mental Health Act 2007, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Care Act 2014, and other relevant health and social care legislation.

The post-holder will help deliver a defined drug and alcohol service to an allocated caseload of service users, having responsibility for the assessment of needs, and the planning and implementation of treatment and care to meet those needs as agreed with the multidisciplinary team and/or supervisor. They will coordinate care (with supervision) for particular clients and contribute to the evaluation of care across a variety of settings where specialist treatment is available.

Please see attached Job Description file for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

About us

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Job responsibilities

Working autonomously within the parameters of the role, provide a defined drug and alcohol service to an allocated caseload of service users, leading on implementing the delivery of quality care, contributing to the physical, psychological, social, recreational and spiritual care in a recoveryfocused way through therapeutic engagement and activities, and taking steps to address any issues that arise.

Having responsibility for the assessment of needs and the planning and implementation of treatment and care to meet those needs, based on best practice and as agreed with the multidisciplinary team and/or supervisor, and contributing to the evaluation of care.

Highly developed and skilled in assessing and interpreting the complex needs of patients/clients, e.g., clinical assessment of complex health needs and social needs, interpretation of vital signs, and related physical health assessments.

Deliver personcentric nursing care via facetoface, online, or telephone contact in line with the persons choice, risk, and/or clinical need.

Facilitate access to services such as housing, employment, education, and substance misuse support, advocating for patients needs and preferences.

Provide education and support to families and carers to enhance understanding and involvement in the patients recovery journey.

Coordinating and evaluating collaborative patientcentred care; obtaining feedback and improving Personal Wellbeing Plans with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and system partners. Liaising and working positively with members of the multidisciplinary team and partner organisations.

Please see attached Job Description file for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Education, Qualification Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities,

• Appropriate health / social care professional qualification and registration
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the post
• Post registration experience working with service users and carers in the delivery of services to address complex alcohol/drug problems, preferably in a specialist substance misuse service
• The ability to demonstrate high level skills and sound professional judgement in assessment, risk assessment and risk management, care planning, care co-ordination and evaluation of care for this client group
• The ability to deliver a range of psychosocial interventions appropriate to the needs of this client group
• Up to date working knowledge of current developments in the drug/alcohol field and related aspects of general / mental health, including research and audit
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times
• Able to travel easily and frequently around the region which will include attending face-to-face appointments, Trust training and team meetings as required
• Effective communication, presentation, interpersonal and liaison skills, both verbal and written
• Is a veteran, has lived experience of the veteran community or has experience of caring for veterans

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.