Senior Mental Health Practitioner-Mental Health Liaison

Are you looking for a role where you can make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their families?

With a big national focus on improving services for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, there has never been a better time to join Oxford Health CAMHS and make a positive difference to children and young people’s life chances.

If you're a Mental Health Nurse, Learning Disability Nurse, Occupational Therapist, or Social Worker, we're looking for you to join our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service team based at Swindon CAMHS, Swindon and support the delivery of our Mental Health Liaison provision.

As a Senior Mental Health Liaison Practitioner, you will work closely with our Liaison Lead and deliver Hospital Liaison at the acute district general hospital in Swindon, Great Western Hospital. You will provide day-to-day liaison and clinical support for the Liaison Service and ensure a consistent, responsive, high-quality, and user-friendly service is delivered.

You will have the opportunity to make an active and meaningful contribution to our exciting service modernisation and redesign that is based on the Thrive model, ensuring children and young people get the right support, at the right time, in the right place, from individuals with the right skills.

Swindon CAMHS is a supportive multidisciplinary team who offer assessment, treatment, and consultation either in the clinic base or out in the community. In this role, you will undertake comprehensive assessments of young people with mental health needs who present to the acute District General Hospital in Swindon.

Risk assessment and management, including the need for positive risk taking, is an important part of the role. You can expect a comprehensive induction programme, including a range of shadowing opportunities to fully support the post holder in the role, ongoing in-house training, and opportunities to attend external trainings. The team fully supports and delivers regular managerial, professional, peer, clinical, and safeguarding supervision to build upon confidence, competence, and commitment to developing self and the role.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health, and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath, and North East Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics, and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team.”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent.”

At Oxford Health, we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants, and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Key responsibilities include:

• Assessment of deliberate self-harm
• Support to patients admitted with an eating disorder
• Contribute a psycho-social perspective to patients admitted
• Provide day support and consultation to hospital staff where a mental health need is identified
• Identify and provide CAMHS training (this may involve other CAMHS colleagues)
• Provide a link to CAMHS within the acute District General Hospital.

Within the team, we work on a flexible working pattern within the multi-disciplinary team to provide cover for a core day from 8 am to 8 pm Monday-Friday and 10 am to 6 pm Saturday – Sunday and Bank Holidays. The flexible working patterns allow team members to work hours flexibly and for days off during the week. You will participate in covering the service’s 24-hour on-call service on a rota basis. There is a robust system of support available from on-call colleagues, including the manager, consultant psychiatrist, and senior manager on call.