Job summary
We are looking for highly motivated Assistant Practitioners and clinical support workers to join the Drayton Park Women's Crisis House and Resource centre.

The ideal candidates will be mainly working with supervision from senior staff to coordinate the residential stay, alongside colleagues, of a case load of women in mental health crisis. This will include offering one to one sessions, participating in risk assessments, collaborative planning, children and families liaison and referring on to a range of services for women.

Main duties of the job
The post holder will also take referrals and co assess women who are referred to the service in mental health crisis.

You would need to demonstrate a respect for women who use mental health services and work within an empowerment model, building on the strengths and expertise of women who use or have used services.

You are expected to have knowledge of trauma informed approaches and an understanding of how trauma impacts on mental health, physical health and social circumstances for women.

The ability to prioritise your workload whilst maintaining a degree of flexibility to accommodate competing demands of the service when they arise. You are expected to have knowledge of national and local policies in relation to women's mental health, the violence against women and girl's agenda and in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

You are expected to have excellent communication skills, demonstrating an ability to understand complex information and to converse with a wide variety of people from different contexts.

You need to have confidence in using computerised patient record systems and also have excellent written skills.

You will be able to use your initiative, within a team setting and be able to engage with the role after a short induction to carry out a role that is multi-functional and has a variety of duties competing for your time and energy.

About us
The postholder will need to be comfortable working in an environment of complex matrix management arrangements and will at all times behave and align with our Trusts' values and cultural pillars:

• We are kind
• We are respectful
• We work together
• We keep things simple
• We empower
• We are proudly diverse

Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached Job description and Person Specification for main responsibilities of the role.

For further information or to arrange a visit please contact Shirley McNicholas or Georgia Carson on 0207 607 2777

G.Carson@nhs.net or Shirley.McNicholas@nhs.net

You can also search on the internet under Drayton Park Womens Crisis House for further reading.

The post is only open to female applicants and is exempt from the Sex Discrimination Act.

Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential

• Registered mental health professional qualification or Nationally recognised qualifications in relevant/identified posts (teaching, City and guilds, sports coaching) or Equivalent level experience

Desirable

• Current Level 1/2 Safeguarding Children and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults certificates or willingness to undertake
• Evidence of studies or learning about mental health, trauma or domestic and sexual abuse.

Knowledge and Experience
Essential

• Demonstrable experience working with individuals with mental health issues in a community, in-patient, or substance misuse care setting
• To demonstrate a sound knowledge base in relation to factors that cause mental health problems for woman and trauma informed therapeutic models.
• Demonstrable understanding and experience of assessment and management of risk and planning care needs

Desirable

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of current Mental Health legislation and its application / use in practice
• To demonstrate an understanding of the interventions needs to meet the physical health needs of woman with mental health or substance addictions problems.

Skills / Abilities
Essential

• Excellent verbal, non-verbal and written communication skill
• Able to work on own initiative
• Able to work as part of a team and demonstrate the importance of a team approach
• Ability to maintain boundaries and form positive therapeutic relationships with service users and carers
• Competent using computers and keyboards for entering personally generated data, generating and responding to emails, conducting web searches etc.
• Motivated and enthusiastic about working in a trauma informed service

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).