Mental Health Practitioner

NHS; Stevenage; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking dedicated Mental Health Practitioners to join a dynamic team focused on delivering exceptional care to children and young people with autism and learning disabilities. This role offers the opportunity to work flexibly within a vibrant NHS environment, contributing to meaningful change in the lives of families across Hertfordshire. Ideal candidates will possess strong communication skills, a commitment to collaborative practice, and the ability to maintain professionalism in challenging situations. If you are passionate about mental health and eager to make a difference, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Professional development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Qualifications

• Professional registration for specialty required.
• Experience in mental health/learning disability settings is essential.

Responsibilities

• Support CYP with autism and learning disabilities.
• Collaborate with families and networks for effective care.

Skills

Communication Skills

Clinical Judgement

Risk Assessment

Evidence-Based Interventions

Decision-Making Skills

Education

Degree in relevant field

Postgraduate diploma or equivalent

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Tools

Microsoft Teams

Job description

PALMS (Positive behaviour, Autism, Learning disability, Mental health Service) is evolving and we want to welcome additional clinicians to be part of our vibrant and multidisciplinary team which includes Clinical Psychologists, Positive Behaviour Analysts, Systemic Therapists, Learning Disability Nurses, Psychiatrists, Mental Health Practitioners, Speech and Language Therapists and Outreach Workers.

With the continued evolution of PALMS we are seeking to appoint 2 Mental Health Practitioners who are motivated and forward thinking clinicians and leaders who can work flexibly and are committed to supporting CYP and their families across Hertfordshire and the full PALMS' team.

This role would be suitable for a number of professions including: Mental Health /Learning Disability Nurses, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists & Clinical Psychologists depending on experience.

Main duties of the job

The ideal candidate will be:

• Passionate about and have a desire to contribute to change in a vibrant NHS team
• Dedicated to supporting CYP with autism and/or learning disability and their families.
• Collaborative in their approach to work with families, networks, and other services
• Able to work both in a team environment and autonomously
• Able to maintain a high degree of professionalism when working in settings where there is a highly emotive atmosphere.
• Flexible in their approach and have resilience under pressure
• Have professional registration for your specialty

About us

A big thank you for considering joining us at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

You'll find it a great place to work with many benefits offered to you as a member of our staff.

We put our patients, their families and carers at the centre of our vision - Outstanding Services and Healthier Communities.

Our staff are proud to be Innovative, Caring and Agile in their work to help achieve the Trust vision.

We welcome diversity in our workforce and are interested in applicants from all backgrounds and ages.

We don't want you to miss out so we'd like you to know that if we have a high level of interest in this role, the vacancy may close prior to the advertised closing date, so please make your application as soon as possible - Apply now.

You've made a great decision to apply to join HCT - we're looking forward to taking the next steps of the journey with you.

Job responsibilities

PALMS principally deliver a flexible service according to need and personal circumstances, in a planned way. For example, for a full-time worker this equates to flexibly working 37.5 across the working week. PALMS are open to flexible working and therefore part time / job share would be considered, working a minimum of 0.6 WTE.

We are committed to supporting flexible working options for staff, wherever possible, and welcome discussions on flexible working patterns to support our staff to maintain a healthy work life balance.

A full valid driving licence and access to a car insured to use for business purposes is essential (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Applicants to be aware that PALMS work within the ULEZ zone and any charges due to non-compliant vehicles cannot be reimbursed by the Trust.

Interviews will be run either in person at one of our bases or using Microsoft Teams, full details and instructions will be provided to successful candidates.

Interview date: 28th April 2025.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• Degree or equivalent in relevant field Professional Qualification (RMN, DipSW, OT or equivalent) supplemented by post graduate diploma specialist training, experience, short courses plus further specialist training to master's equivalent level.
• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology.
• Experience in relevant mental health/learning disability setting.
• Specialist knowledge within the field of clinical skills gained through theoretical and practical training and experience.
• Membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Approved mental health professional (AMHP).
• Further training in relevant areas of Autism, Learning Disability and mental health.

Other Specifications

• Willingness to uphold the Trust's values.
• Eligible to live and work in the UK.
• Hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
• Willingness to travel to alternate locations to provide services.

Knowledge & Skills

• High level of communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive, abusive or hostile.
• Ability to identify appropriate evidence based interventions for mental health and/or behaviours that challenge.
• Evidence of well-developed critical decision-making skills.
• An ability to make autonomous clinical judgements involving highly complex facts and situations.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information to service users, carers and colleagues.

Experience

• Significant experience of risk assessment within a mental health or learning disability setting.
• Significant experience of working clinically in a mental health and/or learning disability setting assessing, containing and managing complex cases in a multi-disciplinary setting.
• Experience of working with people who have a learning disability and/or autism spectrum disorder.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole course of presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the treat of physical abuse.
• Knowledge of child development, child and adolescent mental health and a range of therapeutic models.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies and assessment methodologies.
• Experience of dealing with Safeguarding Incidents.
• Clinical experience in a child learning disability context.
• Experience of service quality monitoring.
• Clinical experience of working in child and/or adolescent mental health context.
• Experience of delivering Clinical Supervision and Line Management.
• Experience of multi-disciplinary team working.
• Experience of co-facilitating or delivering group interventions.

Personal Abilities

• An ability to interact with children who have a learning disability and or an autism spectrum disorder and their families.
• An ability to interact effectively with staff from all disciplines.
• Ability to establish and maintain professional relationships.
• An ability to work effectively in a range of direct care settings with families, carers and staff.
• Good organisational skills and an ability to manage their workload.
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently.
• Ability to work as part of a 'virtual team'.

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.

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Reference number

812-25-PALMS-MHP

Job locations

Peace CC, St Albans CC or Danestrete CDC and QEII

St Albans and Watford or Stevenage and Welwyn