Young People’s Transition Practitioner (FT) London, England
HF Mencap
Full Time
London, England
27000 GBP ANNUAL Today
Job description
Job Title: Young People’s Transition Practitioner
Salary: £27,000 per year
Responsible to: Chief Executive Hammersmith and Fulham Mencap and Senior YPTP
Clinical Consultation: Clinical Psychologist West London Mental Health Trust
Hours: 36 hours per week
Fixed term: Until 30th September (role may be renewed subject to funding)
Company is actively interviewing for this position.
Applications will be accepted until 21st March 2023 however we reserve the right to close the advert early should the position be filled.
Company is actively interviewing for this position.
Applications will be accepted until 21st March 2023 however we reserve the right to close the advert early should the position be filled.
Context:
This role is commissioned by the CCG. Following four successful years in Hammersmith & Fulham the project is set to continue to run for a further 18 months across 3 London Boroughs during 2021-2023 and be led and managed by HF Mencap with support from the CCG, CAMHS, and adult and children’s social care services. CAMHS and Social Care colleagues form an important part in the referral, liaison, and delivery of services to families (for example clinical consultation, joint group work, and appointments with families), accountability for any services delivered to families by the post-holder will be held solely by HF Mencap.
Purpose of the Job:
To work with Hammersmith and Fulham Mencap to deliver a transition service to young people aged 14 – 21 and their families, with a learning disability or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in transition, who also have a mental health disorder. The core purpose of this role is to ensure young people are accessing mental health services.
The role involves supporting 14-21-year olds with a learning disability and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder, who also have a mental health disorder, as they make the transition from child to adult services, higher education, or employment. The role will involve working directly with the young person and their family to develop person-centered transition plans and provide transition support.
Such support may include supporting the person with uncertainty surrounding transition and appropriate pathways, the complexity around multiple service involvement, the complexity around additional medical needs, and/or the need for additional signposting to other services.
These might be young people who are doing quite well academically but who lack the required social or living skills to go to university, for instance. Other cases might involve young people with additional medical needs moving hospitals. The practitioner works with them and their families to develop an integrated pathway, signposting where they can get the skills or support to get them where they want and need to be.
Key core agencies that will interface with the service include:
- CAMHS Services, particularly HF Specialist CAMHS Team.
- Disabled Children’s Team (DCT).
- Adult Learning Disability Teams (ALDT).
- Adult Mental Health Teams.
- Adult Autism Team.
- Voluntary Sector Agencies.
- Parent Representative Groups.
- Youth Development Project.
- Special Schools and Colleges.
- Adult IAPT & Clinical Psychologist co-located with ALDT.
- GP’s.
- Child Development Centres, including Community Pediatrics and Psychology.
- SEND Team.
Main duties:
- Identify young people, with learning disabilities or Autism with mental health disorders over the age of 14 who will be transitioning into adult services, education, or employment.
- Create a person-centered plan for young people to be supported to transition successfully.
- Provide the opportunity to support young people to access voluntary sector services in the local community
- Identify beneficial life skills support to young people that aid them to access employment, further education, and housing and to develop a social network.
- Work in partnership with the local parent forum to support families of children within this cohort.
- To work in partnership with other agencies to help remove barriers and increase opportunities for this cohort.
- To attend meetings and forums and to raise awareness of the issues faced by this cohort
- To work by HF Mencap Policies and Procedures.
- To carry out the duties of the post within an equal opportunities framework.
- To be aware of the issues of culture, race, age, gender, class, sexuality, and disability and to challenge prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior
- To maintain effective records and contribute to monitoring processes. To ensure case records accurately reflect the activities carried out on behalf of service users.
- To work as part of the HF Mencap team and attend meetings and other events as appropriate.
- Attend line management supervision and clinical consultation regularly and participate in the appraisal process.
- To undertake any other duties as may be required as a team member of HF Mencap.
- Attend H&F CAMHS NDLD team meetings monthly at a minimum (held weekly)
- Attend any other meetings as appropriate
- To signpost families and Young People to other relevant services, and to escalate risk issues where appropriate to the local adult and child safeguarding agencies, mental health teams, and police.
Management Supervision, Clinical Consultation, and Recording
There is a difference between management supervision and clinical consultation.
Management supervision will be with Mencap and will form part of the accountability of the contractual arrangements between the post-holder and employer. This will include leaving arrangements, managing sickness and absence, as well as managing the overall caseload of the post-holder and clinical and safeguarding risk issues. This supervision should be at a minimum once per month for one hour, although it is recognized that more frequent meetings may need to take place at the beginning of the employment, and where risk issues present.
Clinical consultation is common practice between agencies where there is a shared goal and sometimes shared work with families in children’s services. It is not clinical supervision in that the employer offers clinical guidance that the supervisee is expected to follow. Clinical consultation involves clinical guidance that is offered by a representative of one agency to another drawing on expertise and skills that will be valuable to the recipient. The recipient as a representative of their agency is not obliged to follow this advice or guidance, it is offered as an option only, hence its name as consultation, not supervision, and the fact that the clinician offering the consultation will not be held to account for the advice offered to the post-holder.
Monthly 1.5-hour 1-1 sessions are available from West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT) to the post-holder for clinical consultation. The remainder of the allocated time (up to 2 half-day sessions) can be utilized in a variety of ways: 1-1 consultation sessions, joint sessions with families, training or three-way sessions between the HF Mencap supervisor, the clinician offering consultation and the post holder and is agreed by all parties.
To ensure good multi-agency working between WLMHT and Mencap, and seamless delivery to families from both agencies, WLMHT will agree to an Honorary contract for the post-holder so careful planning, data, and risk management can be jointly shared.
The post-holder will keep notes and reports on their work with families on Mencap’s systems.
Expected Outcomes:
- Provision of transition support for young people (aged 14-25) and their parents.
- Clear written person-centered plan for each child identified as requiring transition support.
- On-going evaluation of needs of young people.
- Work in collaboration with CAMHS and in partnership with the Disabled Children’s Team, the Adult Learning Disability Team, and Adult Autism Services.
- Create direct links to voluntary sector services.
- Signpost to beneficial life skills supports to young people that aid young people to access employment, further education, and housing and to develop Social Network.
- Provide quarterly reports on activity and agreed on KPIs to commissioners.
Person Specification
Qualifications (essential)
- Educated to a degree level.
Knowledge and Experience (essential)
- Experience working in a service delivery role with young people aged 14-17 and/or 18-25.
- Understanding of issues faced by people with learning disabilities and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. (ASD)
- Understanding of issues faced by people with mental health problems.
- A positive, non-judgmental attitude to, and empathy with children & young people with learning disabilities and ASD.
- An understanding of, and commitment to, the involvement and empowerment of those using the Service.
Knowledge and Experience (desirable)
- Experience working in a service delivery role with people with ASD or Learning Disabilities.
- BSc Honours degree in Psychology (BPS Approved) 1st or 2:1.
- Experience working with people in transition.
- Experience working with people with mental health problems.
Skill requirements (essential
- Excellent IT skills including the use of basic office software – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Report writing/record-keeping skills - Able to write clearly and concisely for letters and reports.
- Good interpersonal skills on the phone and face-to-face.
- Confident and competent when dealing with people at all levels.
- Ability to handle confidential and sensitive issues.
Other (essential)
- Ability to work as part of a team.
- The ability to work in a way that empowers people.
- Able to prioritize workload.
- Conscientious and able to work on own initiative.
- An understanding of the type of work HF Mencap does, and a positive attitude to people with learning disabilities and mental health.
- Willingness to travel within the borough frequently for meetings, and out of the borough on occasion.
Employment Information
The following outlines basic information about working terms and conditions. Full terms and conditions are included in the contract, which will be offered to the successful applicant.
Location:
The usual place of employment is at the HF Mencap Head Office, Addison Primary School, London W14 0DT, or at such place or places where it is necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the post.
Hours of Work:
Full-time employees work 36 hours a week. Normal office hours are 9.30 am to 5.30 pm,
Monday to Friday.
Benefits:
The annual leave entitlement is 25 days in addition to Bank Holidays, a 3% Employer Contribution Pension and an Employee Assistance Programme, Sodexo Benefits
The annual leave entitlement is 25 days in addition to Bank Holidays, a 3% Employer Contribution Pension and an Employee Assistance Programme, Sodexo Benefits
Equal Opportunities:
Hammersmith and Fulham Mencap is determined to make all efforts to prevent discrimination or other unfair treatment against any of its staff, potential staff, or users of its services, regardless of race, gender, age, employment status, disability, political beliefs, religion, responsibility for dependants or sexual orientation.
About HF Mencap:
Our Mission To empower children and adults with learning disabilities and autism to get their voice heard, reach their potential and be included in their local community. Our Vision We seek to promote the wellbeing and development of children and adults with learning disabilities and autism in all areas of their lives as well as supporting their families and carers.
