Specialist Substance Use Worker | West London NHS Trust

The transformation of community forensic services at West London NHS Trust has seen the development of the new Specialist Community Forensic Team. Following a successful pilot programme beginning in 2020 the SCFT has now expanded across all 8 North West London Boroughs.

The Specialist Community Forensic Team works to transition service users out of secure settings, and support their ongoing recovery in the community. This can improve quality of life, reduce inequality, and give hope to people who may have been detained for many years.

We are looking for an individual who will work alongside the SCFT Care Coordinators; Social Supervisors and Medical colleagues and will follow up patients who have been discharged into the community and have a history or ongoing issues with substance misuse. Working within a multidisciplinary team, the post holder will operate with high levels of autonomy across the eight boroughs covered by SCFT, liaising and working alongside care coordinators; social supervisors; medical colleagues and other agencies to implement specialist care packages for dual diagnosis individuals who have been detained in secure care.

The post holder will hold a core professional qualification, and will have significant experience of work in both a forensic setting and with those who misuse substances, and an active interest in the development, evaluation and monitoring of an innovative substance misuse service tailored to the needs of forensic patients.

The post holder will work closely with the forensic drug & alcohol support service (DASS), which provides assessment/interventions to the in-patient forensic wards and community forensic service users under the care of the Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT). The post holder will receive clinical supervision from the DASS senior clinical nurse and Line Management from the SCFT Nursing Team Manager.

The post holder will work as part of the ground-breaking new team that will improve the lives of forensic mental health service users and their carers. This is a rare chance to be part of shaping a new service, providing opportunities to develop one's skills and one's career., We are keen to ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+ and experience of mental illness.

1.Clinical

1. To provide specialist assessment, including risk assessment, of patients who have severe and enduring mental disorders (both mental illness and personality disorders), serious forensic histories and histories of significant misuse of substances, and who present with highly complex needs. To support SCFT clinicians in developing formulations of service users' presentations.

2. To provide appropriate, evidence-based treatment interventions for substance misuse, in both individual and group settings, taking into account patients' individual profiles of needs and abilities. This will include motivational interviewing, harm reduction approaches and relapse prevention skills training.

3. To provide specialist advice, guidance and consultation to SCFT regarding care planning and management, including risk management, of patients who misuse substances. To coordinate the biological screening for substance use for the SCFT caseload.

4. To establish and maintain communication with patients and carers on complex and potentially stressful topics in a range of situations. This includes giving feedback on sensitive issues to patients who have been compulsorily detained, have severe mental disorders and have a heightened potential for hostile reactions.

5. To give feedback and communicate with, as necessary, referrers, the multi-disciplinary team and the wider health, social care and criminal justice system on matters concerning the assessment, treatment and management of mentally disordered offenders who misuse substances; including preparation of written reports as necessary.

6. To lead on the development of packages of care for SCFT service users with co-existing substance use disorders, including promoting peer mentoring for SCFT service users to access community substance use services and mutual aid organisations.

2.Service Development

1. To contribute to planning and delivery of the SCFT, including taking the lead on specific projects related to increased clinical provision and effectiveness of the Service.

2. To attend ward rounds, CPA meetings, Clinical Improvement Groups, staff meetings, community meetings and other relevant meetings for designated clinical areas as the SCFT representative; to initiate plans within those forums for more effective clinical care/management of service users, and to take responsibility for their implementation in consultation with other multi-disciplinary staff.

3. To contribute to collaboration and information-sharing with outside agencies in order to improve the delivery and effectiveness of SCFT.

4. To establish good working relationships with local borough based community substance use services for Hounslow, Ealing, Harrow, Hammersmith and Fulham; Hillingdon; Kensington Chelsea and Westminster and Brent, borough based substance use care managers, and any other addictions treatment services e.g. national problem gambling clinic, club drug clinic, and other boroughs' addictions services.

3.Teaching and Training

1. To contribute to the identification of multi-disciplinary training needs in relation to treatment and management of service users with substance misuse histories.

2. To contribute to teaching and training of multi-disciplinary staff across the Forensic Service.

4.Supervision

1. To provide clinical supervision to multi-disciplinary professionals working with substance misuse issues.

2. To participate in regular clinical supervision on current caseload and on supervision/management issues arising from the role of SCFT substance use worker.

5.Research/Evaluation

1. To evaluate the effectiveness of individual therapeutic interventions under supervision of the SCFT Team Manager.

2. To lead on specific audit projects, under the supervision of the SCFT Team Manager.

3. To contribute to the SCFT Team's database of research and audit information and to support the development of evidence-based practice across all clinical areas.

4. To assist with relevant research projects as identified by the SCFT Team Manager.

6.Professional Development

1. To maintain and develop clinical and research knowledge of developments within the fields of substance misuse and forensic mental health.

To assist in the effective development and organisation of the service by attending appropriate departmental and other meetings/training as required.

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.

Our 3,982 staff care for people in hospital and in the community, helping them to recover and go on to lead full and productive lives. We aim to be the best organisation of our kind in the country.

We provide care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units.

We're rated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Together, we're committed to promoting hope and wellbeing, working with patients, service users, carers, families and partners across the communities we serve.