Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Are you a confident and skilled clinician looking to bring positive change to the lives of young people and to the communities in which they live? Why not come and work for NELFT’s Crisis, Assessment and Triage (CAT) Team in Kent and Medway Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) , and become part of one of the UK’s most innovative healthcare Trusts?

We have an exciting opportunity for Crisis Clinical Practitioner

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will be a graduate qualified health care professional ( nurse, social worker, occupational therapist), or will have substantial CAMHS clinical experience and where appropriate will be fully registered with the appropriate professional or regulatory body ( HCPC, NMC). They will have extensive clinical experience working with children and young people with emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties. In addition the worker will need to evidence that they are able to provide children, young people and their families with information and education thereby ensuring they have meaningful choices regarding interventions. The worker will need to demonstrate that they have a wide range of knowledge in approaches to communicating and managing care.

To promote and signpost the mental and emotional health of children, young people and families in the community or with Home Treatment Team

To prevent more serious mental health problems in children and young people by early identification of the development of mental health problems or to support with admission to tier 4 hospital.

To have a wide range of knowledge in approaches to communicating and managing care with families, children and young people.

To have excellent communication skills and to be able to promote integrated healthcare working internally and externally.

This is a 24 hour service with expectation of working a mixture of long days, nights and weekends

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification when completing your application

Crisis, Assessment and Triage (CAT) Team in Kent and Medway CAMHS 

The roles is for a Crisis Clinical Practitioner and will include triaging new referrals into the service and responding to referrals via telephone calls, and consultation with other professionals and stakeholders.

The C receives, screens and directs referrals from across Southend, Essex and Thurrock. Then provides advice, information, consultation and support to all referrers and a range of other local services. SPA staff are co-located with existing local authority early help and advice services. SPA is often young people’s and families first, important contact with SET CAMHS.

The CAT team works closely with the Kent and Medway CAMHS locality teams as well as the Home Treatment Team and Kent & Medway Adolescent Hospital (KMAH) to respond and support children experiencing mental health crisis. In addition, we work collaboratively with the wider network of professionals, including hospital staff, social services and emergency services.

If working in the CAT Team is for you if you are excited by a modern approach. We would very much like to hear from you.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Successful completion of a graduate training ( nursing, social work, occupational therapy) or equivalent substantial CAMHS clinical experience To be eligible for registration as a full member of the appropriate professional body ( HCPC, NMC) where appropriate

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience of working with difficult, disturbed or challenging children/young people requiring skilled and complex interventions Experience of working with children and adolescents with co-morbid difficulties and special needs. ( combination of organic and emotional deficits, such as autistic spectrum disorders and trauma). Experience of working therapeutically with parents/carers/families of children and young people with complex mental health problems Experience of using observation (eg. In school contexts) to contribute to assessments of children. Experience of carrying out generic assessment with other colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team Experience of assessment carried out autonomously in order to determine the most appropriate treatment plan from a range of options for the child/young person. Experience of providing individual interventions with a wide variety of children and young people, from 3 to 19 years old- presenting problems at the most severe end of the spectrum.

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Further professional knowledge will have been gained through accredited courses workshops, study and in house training programmes ( CYP-IAPT training)

Professional progression and skills

Desirable criteria

Demonstration of excellent written and verbal communication skills and learning progression

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.