Mental Health Practitioner

We have set up a crisis response service which serves North East London for those experiencing a mental health crisis to call NHS 111 and have 24/7 access to the mental health support they need
Why you should join us?
In return for your commitment, we will offer you inner London weighting, a comprehensive induction package, a bespoke training programme, regular supervision, regular reflective practice and a comprehensive staff well being programme.
What we require, The post will be subject to 24 hour internal rotation and on rotation to respond to the 4 hour urgent response referrals.
The postholder will be required to respond to calls made to the crisis line, from Blue Light Emergency Services or via NHS 111.
The postholder will work with people in crisis and their families who are supporting them and who reside in these boroughs, who are experiencing a mental health crisis.
The postholder will support the band 4 crisis response practitioners in taking calls to the phone line and will be the escalation point for complex calls requiring a qualified practitioner involvement.
The postholder will provide supervision to the band 4 crisis response practitioners as delegated in the governance structure.
In conjunction with the senior management team you will ensure safe and effective crisis support is delivered on a consistent basis and that targets are met or are escalated when challenges prevent this.
To undertake a comprehensive assessment including risk assessment effectively and efficiently using the triage tool, over the telephone and ensuring an urgent face to face assessment is carried out as appropriate or the relevant blue light emergency service is deployed.
To agree crisis care plans as appropriate to the triage outcome of the call and to support and advise relatives and care givers.
Take responsibility in the absence of senior staff for ensuring adequate staffing resources to deliver the service., Develop and maintain a high standard of practice based on a biopsychosocial assessment framework and supportive clinical management.
Liaise and establish good working relationships with referring agents, colleagues in Primary Care services, Social Services, Community Mental Health Teams, Assertive Outreach, In-Patient services, Emergency Services, Criminal Justice, Voluntary Sector and other agencies as appropriate.
To have knowledge of and practice a range of therapeutic interventions available to reduce distress for individuals experiencing an acute mental health crisis.
Ability to work autonomously.
To work with the service in developing plans that offer supportive crisis care in the least restrictive way.
Act as a role model in the practice area, encouraging staff in supervision to sustain a supportive learning environment.
Be responsible for the maintenance and accurate recording of patient information in the documentation systems and to ensure the effective dissemination of service user information throughout the Trust.
Ensure compliance with the requirements Safeguarding Adults and Children's policies. To ensure that staff have the required knowledge and skills to work within these procedures to support the safety of vulnerable adults and children.
Recognize the role of advocacy, promote concept of autonomy and self-empowerment and ensure members of the team comply with this.
Have an understanding of the key performance indicators for the ELFT crisis service and ensure compliance with Trust CQUINs and key performance indicators.
Identify own educational needs ensuring professional updating and development as appropriate to the relevant regulatory body.
Ensure that own compliance with mandatory training is maintained.
Ensure full engagement and potential through supervision, appraisals and performance management.
Ensure that you are suitably skilled in identifying the physical health needs of service users.
To represent the crisis service positively both internally and externally to the Trust.
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don't stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated 'Outstanding' by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated 'Outstanding' again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ's Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
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 job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.

It is desirable that the successful applicant has a professional and personal experience of the communities in North East London. In addition, good communication skills over the telephone is essential.

ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations., Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.