Specialist Health Visitor in Infant Mental Health

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

Job summary

An established healthcare organization is seeking a Specialist Health Visitor in Infant Mental Health to lead a dedicated team supporting infants and their caregivers. This role focuses on enhancing parent-infant relationships and addressing emotional and mental health needs during critical early years. The successful candidate will provide direct interventions, deliver training to clinical staff, and collaborate with various agencies to ensure comprehensive care. Join a passionate team committed to making a difference in the lives of families and shaping the future of infant healthcare in the community.

Benefits

Career Development Opportunities

Flexible Working Options

Training and Professional Development

Supportive Work Environment

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse/Midwife with SCPHN qualification required.
• Expertise in infant mental health and teaching interventions essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead an infant mental health team focusing on wellbeing.
• Provide direct support to infants and families with challenges.

Skills

Infant Mental Health Expertise

Teaching and Learning Interventions

Leadership Skills

Collaboration with Agencies

Communication Skills

Caseload Management

Safeguarding Knowledge

Education

Registered Nurse/Midwife

SCPHN Qualification

Relevant Master's Degree

Infant Mental Health Qualification

Job description

Specialist Health Visitor in Infant Mental Health

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The specialised Health visiting team for Infant Mental Health is dedicated to supporting infants and their primary caregivers, including parents, foster carers, grandparents, and others assuming this role, during the crucial period of the infants' first two years of life. The team offers direct support for parent-infant relationships and addresses the social, emotional, and mental health needs of infants. This service operates from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, for infants residing within the geographical area of Hampshire.

The team is committed to delivering sensitive, responsive, and appropriate care that is essential for the healthy development of infants. Their primary objective is to assist caregivers in addressing the infants' social, emotional, and mental health challenges, enhancing existing parenting skills, and fostering a strong parent-infant relationship. Services are provided through home visits or at alternative venues such as clinical settings or community spaces across Hampshire.

Main duties of the job

The successful role holder will be clinically leading an infant mental health team that supports the social, emotional, mental health, and wellbeing of infants. This role requires the ability to work effectively with parents and infants, focusing on preventative measures to address potential harm to infants' emotional wellbeing and future mental health. This role involves the provision of direct support to infants and their families, including targeted interventions for infants experiencing early difficulties and specialised support for families facing ongoing challenges in their early relationships, particularly when an infant's emotional wellbeing and development are at risk.

The role holder will be delivering comprehensive training to a diverse range of clinical staff. They will act as a point of contact for those involved in the public health Healthy Child Programme, contributing to a system-wide transformation in the provision of services related to infant social, emotional, mental health, and wellbeing. The role holder will utilise their expertise and leadership skills to assist the local workforce and team members in understanding and supporting parent-infant relationships, identifying issues as they arise, and taking appropriate actions.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust's community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job responsibilities

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone. If as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse/Midwife
• Qualification as SCPHN (Health Visiting)
• Relevant master's degree or additional qualification relevant to the specialist post e.g. early years qualifications, infant mental health qualification/courses/assessments
• Evidence of recent professional and personal development
• Full UK Driving Licence (and access to a car) with business insurance
• Additional specialist qualification/training in specific models of infant mental health intervention (e.g. NBO or ADBB).
• Nurse prescriber
• Evidence of ongoing learning and professional development

Experience

• A high level of relevant expert knowledge, skill and recent experience in infant mental health, developed through training and practice.
• Experience of working in partnership with other relevant services and 3rd sector organisations
• Evidence of delivering high quality teaching and learning interventions to staff groups.
• Evidence of leadership and practice development
• Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively with other agencies
• Evidence of experience as a supervisor, including a clear understanding and application of an effective caseload management system.
• Ability to work as a role model and expert in specialist infant mental health practice.
• Evidence of the ability to influence and motivate
• Knowledge and understanding of the service improvement agenda
• Strong written and oral presentation skills, including the ability to author concise and persuasive reports and business cases

Additional Criteria

• Able to cope with the demands of this post in this working environment.
• Ability to fulfil the travel requirements of the post.
• Able to manage, supervise and direct a multi-disciplinary team and support staff as appropriate.
• Able to prioritise workload and manage team capacity according to demand.
• Knowledge of clinical governance requirements and management
• Requires commitment to, and understanding of Equal Opportunities issues.
• To set an example of non-discriminatory behaviour and to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable that staff act in accordance with the parent agencies policies on Equal Opportunities.
• To demonstrate a high level of awareness of the issue of diversity and to be able to take a lead in ensuring that the diverse needs of the client group can be met
• Working knowledge of the appropriate legislative framework e.g. Children Act.
• Can identify safeguarding and child protection issues using knowledge of child protection procedures and liaise appropriately with other agencies
• To demonstrate a flexible, adaptable attitude, particularly regarding being able to meet complex and disparate client needs flexibly while maintaining appropriate standards and boundaries.
• Excellent understanding of clinical and professional requirements, current issues, policies and evidence-based practice relevant to infant mental health, specialist community public health nursing and external bodies (NMC).
• Requires an understanding of Health and Safety issues and a willingness to undertake training where appropriate.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work proactively and cultivate relationships with key stakeholders, senior managers and clinical staff, including at times of stress.
• Excellent time management skills with an ability to prioritise.
• A positive approach to teaching and customer care, with ability to manage difficult conversations. Evidence of teaching, presentation and facilitation skills.
• Sensitive and honest with the ability to inspire and motivate others
• Evidence of good organisational skills and the ability to use own initiative and meet deadlines
• Excellent verbal, written, numeracy and IT skills
• Evidence of significant contribution to transformational change
• Demonstrates outstanding commitment to patient care, quality of care and outcomes
• Patient and person-centered
• Looks across organisational boundaries and focuses on forging relationships
• Sets clear goals, promoting a learning culture and celebrating success
• Commitment to self-development, with an in-depth knowledge of key policies and themes in children's health, infant mental health.
• Ability and interest in coaching/supervision of staff to improve performance
• Ability to interpret and analyse information, research and audit data to influence and initiate change.

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.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust