Behaviour Support Practitioner

Maudsley Learning; London; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a transformative team dedicated to supporting autistic individuals as a Behaviour Support Practitioner. This role focuses on providing Positive Behaviour Support interventions and training within a multi-disciplinary team, enhancing local services and improving outcomes for clients. With a commitment to career progression, you'll have access to ongoing training and development opportunities. This innovative Trust values diversity and promotes a supportive work environment, making it an ideal place for those passionate about making a difference in mental health care. Embrace flexible working and contribute to a meaningful cause while growing in your career.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Career progression pathways

Ongoing training and development

Supportive work environment

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree and PG Diploma in relevant fields required.
• Experience in applied behavioural assessment and treatment is essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide applied behavioural assessments and interventions for clients.
• Participate in service evaluation, audit, and research.

Skills

Applied Behaviour Analysis

Positive Behaviour Support

Clinical Assessment

Team Collaboration

Cultural Competence

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

PG Diploma in Applied Behaviour Analysis

Job description

Site: Maudsley Hospital

Town: Denmark Hill

Salary: £44,806 - £53,134 per annum Incl. of inner HCAs pro rata

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 12/02/2025 23:59

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to providing high quality and specialist care to our service users and are recognised for the care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission rates our services as ‘good’.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives, in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.

As a Trust, we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

Join our Transforming Care Autism (TCA) service as a Behaviour Support Practitioner and be part of a team making a real impact. This substantive service was developed to meet the needs of autistic individuals at risk of admission to, or within, mainstream mental health services. Following a successful pilot, it is now fully commissioned, providing a unique opportunity to contribute to its long-term success.

In this role, you will provide direct Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) interventions to individuals and their supporters, alongside consultation and training within a supportive multi-disciplinary team. Your work will strengthen local services, build the capability of mainstream mental health teams, and improve outcomes for autistic individuals across Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham. You will visit various settings, including Bethlem Royal Hospital, Maudsley Hospital, Lambeth Hospital, Lewisham Hospital, and community locations.

We are committed to career progression and staff development, offering structured pathways to help you grow within the organisation. You will have access to training in management and leadership, as well as weekly Education and Research meetings across the pathway and beyond. Whether you want to develop your clinical expertise or take on leadership responsibilities, we will support your aspirations.

We also offer agile and flexible working as part of our commitment to improving work-life balance.

Main duties of the job

• To provide applied behavioural assessment and intervention for clients who present behaviour that challenges services and poses risks to their well-being, including specialist assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
• To employ the principles of Positive Behaviour Support in all aspects of clinical work.
• To participate in strengthening local services and developing capable environments through training, consultation, and modelling.
• To contribute to enabling other staff, service users, and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
• To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate.
• To participate in service evaluation, audit, and research.
• To work as an autonomous professional within professional and Trust guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by the policies and procedures of the service, taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.
• To plan and facilitate staff training and teaching, and presentations as appropriate.

Working for our organisation

• Career Progression pathways and development opportunities:

We are committed to getting the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience with the aim of progressing into other roles across the organisation. For this role, we offer support to develop management and leadership skills and knowledge as required. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development including weekly Education and Research meetings across the pathway and beyond.

• Agile and flexible working:

As one of the few Trusts in London, we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage.

The role is across the Trust, which can include visits to one of our inpatient settings and settings in the community.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care
To provide applied behavioural assessments, formulations, and interventions for clients in the TCA service who present behaviour that challenges services and poses risks to the well-being of the clients.

To work with family carers or with staff who provide direct support to clients to enable them to develop their skills to work effectively with individuals whose behaviour challenges.

To ensure that interventions and work with care staff or families of referred clients adheres to and actualises the principles of Positive Behaviour Support, and is culturally appropriate.

To manage a clinical caseload taking responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions with support of clinical supervisor.

To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

To contribute to the effective working of the TCA and to the development and maintenance of a Positive Behaviour Support framework for the service.

To contribute to the team’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.

To liaise with referrers, GPs, and other professionals, and other agencies concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

KR 3 Policy and service development

To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.

To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

To contribute to service development through participating in appropriate projects.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.

To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

To supervise trainee Behaviour Support Practitioners after accreditation by the training course(s) and completion of the Trust’s Supervision Training.

To supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism when requested.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

To provide training to family carers and to support workers to enable them to develop their skills to work effectively with individuals whose behaviour challenges services, and to implement and adhere to the principles of Positive Behaviour Support in all aspects of care.

To provide occasional specialist training in behavioural approaches to care to other professions as appropriate.

To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8 Research and development

To participate regularly in service evaluation, audits, or research relevant to service needs.

To lead occasionally on specific service evaluation, audit, or research.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological practitioner according to Trust guidelines.

To ensure own Continuing Professional Development as required by the Personal Development Plan.

To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

To comply with the Trust’s Code of Conduct for Non-Regulated Clinical Staff, and ensure professional development in line with it.

KR 10 General
To travel to borough-wide services where necessary (e.g. home visits, community placements, psychology meetings) as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow Trust policies relating to its management.

To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as challenging behaviour and to support others involved in such situations.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree followed by PG Diploma in Applied Behaviour Analysis, or Analysis and Intervention in Intellectual Disabilities, or equivalent PG Diploma.

Experience/Knowledge

• Experience and knowledge of applied behavioural assessment and treatment of clients with a range of needs of a complex nature.
• Experience and knowledge of the practice of Positive Behaviour Support.
• Experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities. This may have been gained through work, research, volunteering, and/or lived experience.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessments and treatment for autistic service users or other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Knowledge

• To deliver Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support across cultural and other differences.
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers, and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory and emotional difficulties, cultural differences, and hostility to or rejection of information.
• To select and administer specialist assessment procedures, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation, and comparison, drawn from several sources.

Abilities

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles.
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour.
• Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility and physical aggression directed at self, including use of breakaway techniques and personal safety procedures as prescribed by Trust policies.

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect, and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice.
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment.
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers, and our staff should be treated with compassion, respect, and dignity.

Please note:

• All applications for this post will need to be made online.
• Read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria.
• The closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should a sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible.
• Once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.
• If you have not heard from us within three weeks from the closing date, your application has not been successful.
• Priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees.
• If you are successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process.
• We are a smoke-free Trust.

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion. Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name: Adanna Onyejiaka

Job title: Principal Clinical Psychologist & Team Lead

Email address: [e-mail]