Co-occurring Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol Practitioner

A Vacancy at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to be part of the Community Rehabilitation Service. As part of the reinvestment of savings made by the SLP Complex Care Programme, a community rehabilitation service, provided jointly with Bridge Support, was established in the Borough of Kingston in early 2023.

The Community Rehabilitation Service provides specialist enhanced rehabilitation support to adults aged 18-65 with a primary mental health need, who may typically have a range of complex mental health conditions and co-morbidities, including substance misuse. The Community Rehabilitation Service is a supported living model with 24-hour waking night cover, delivering an integrated and rehabilitation focused model of care. The aim is to maximise independence in a community rehabilitation setting with integrated clinical MDT support.

The accommodation and support staff are provided by Bridge Support in the form of two six bedded properties in the Royal Borough of Kingston. The service is available to adult residents of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth. South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust provide a dedicated clinical team including psychiatrist, psychologist, occupational therapist and co-occurring mental health, alcohol and drugs practitioner. These clinical posts sit within the already established Community Rehab Team, based at Springfield Hospital.

The successful candidate will have experience of working within a rehabilitation setting, have a strong commitment to improving the recovery outcomes of individuals, and enjoy working with stakeholders to support service transformation and innovation.

The post holder will be a specialist worker who will operate within mental health & commissioned substance misuse services across the Trust footprint. They will work as a practitioner providing expert, evidence-based practice to people with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drugs needs and offer clinical input to the community Mental Health Teams and to external colleagues.

The post holder will develop skills and abilities with adult community mental health team staff and the substance misuse team, which enable them to work more effectively with clients who present with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug problems.

The post holder will be involved in providing specialist assessment and interventions working with adults who present with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug problems.This will include particularly motivational interventions to enable clients to engage with services and to encourage change behaviour., · To provide specialist clinical input and advice to support colleagues within the SWLSTG/Bridge Support community rehabilitation project and to agencies concerned with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug problems.

· To undertake time-limited treatment specific work with clients whose care is co-ordinated by other members of staff in clinical teams, in respect of substance use, relapse prevention, detoxification and rehabilitation referrals for those with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drugs and mental health need devising systematic plans for care; implementing this plan; co-ordinating the input of others and evaluating its effectiveness. This includes (for nurses) the administration of medication; monitoring of side effects and interactions and developing medication adherence strategies for nursing staff.

· To receive supervision and support from both the mental health team and the substance misuse teams.

· To work as an autonomous practitioner providing expert assessments and developing, implementing and evaluating care/ treatment interventions for service users with complex needs associated with a co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug issues.

· To lead the promotion of evidence-based practice for people with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drugs and mental health need with their linked services.

· To provide expert advice to clinical staff of all disciplines and grades (including consultant psychiatrists) on the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of care/treatment packages for people with a co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug problem.

· To provide clinical supervision formally and informally to staff of all disciplines (e.g. nurses, doctors, social workers) and grades (up to an including consultant level).

· To provide harm reduction information, support and referral with an emphasis on safer drug and alcohol use, safer sex, tobacco harm reduction / smoking cessation, HIV, Hepatitis A,B and C and other blood borne infections. To work closely with acute hospitals to support referral and engagement to Hep C treatment for service users within mental health services who are not engaged in the commissioned substance misuse service.

· To provide overdose prevention interventions in line national guideline.

· To manage a caseload of service users affected drug and alcohol use and severe and enduring mental health needs - this will include service users with complex needs.

· In consultation with service users, enable substance misuse and homelessness providers, to develop flexible and realistic strengths based / recovery plans.

· To support the clinical teams with the assessment of service users for residential detoxification and rehabilitation treatment, where appropriate.

· To employ a range of interventions with service users including motivational interviewing and be familiar with treatment tools.

· To empower services to work with people with co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drug problems and staff and service user to identify quality improvements in practice and service delivery and become involved in service user co production.

· To offer clinical/case supervision to staff for co-occurring mental health, alcohol and/or drugs and to identify quality improvements in practice and service delivery.

· To work in a way that promotes recovery and facilitates social inclusion.

· To comply with the Trust's Safeguarding Adults process.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.