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Job summary

Main area
Service User Network (SUN) Clinical Facilitator
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
363-BED6143578
Employer
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Bedfordshire and Luton Service User Network (SUN) Service
Town
Dunstable
Salary
£35,392 - £42,618 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
26/05/2024 23:59
Interview date
12/06/2024

Employer heading

East London NHS Foundation Trust logo

Service User Network (SUN) Specialist Clinician

NHS AfC: Band 6

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.

Job overview

This post provides the opportunity to contribute specialist clinical skills to a new development in the Bedfordshire and Luton complex emotional needs offer – a Service User Network (SUN). The SUN service is a collaboration between the East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) Bedfordshire and Luton Complex Needs Service and Mind-BLMK, which will be responsible for operational management. SUN is an open access inclusive model of community-based facilitated group peer support for people experiencing complex emotional needs associated with complex trauma and/or a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’. The facilitated SUN groups will provide a structured, containing and supportive group environment that people with complex emotional needs can choose to access during the week, and will be delivered online and/or in person in different geographical locations across Bedfordshire and Luton.

 

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work collaboratively as a member of the integrated SUN team, which will include a Service Manager and Specialist Clinical SUN Facilitators employed by ELFT, and Lived Experience SUN Facilitators employed by Mind-BLMK. Full training in the SUN model, and weekly supervision by a Psychotherapist/Psychologist, will be provided for all team members. The post-holder will co-facilitate SUN peer support groups with Lived Experience SUN Facilitators, and will take the lead on working with Lived Experience co-facilitators and SUN group members to support new members to identify risks and develop effective safety plans that draw on available resources. The post-holder will also provide day-to-day support to Lived Experience Facilitators, thereby contributing to their professional development, and will assist the Service Manager in the delivery of the SUN service by working with them to organize and deliver the programme of groups across Bedfordshire and Luton.

 

The post holder will be required to actively participate in weekly SUN supervision and team business meetings, and will deliver presentations to teams, services and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations across primary and secondary care to promote and publicise the SUN service. The post holder will also contribute to the co-produced development of the SUN service through participation in clinical audit, service evaluation and quality improvement projects.

 

Working for our organisation

 

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

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post-holder will have a professional qualification in Mental Health Nursing, Social Work, Occupational Therapy or Art Therapy, and will be expected to work autonomously within professional guidelines and under the management and supervision of the SUN Service Manager. The post holder will be based at Mind-BLMK premises in Luton, and will be required to travel to sites across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton, when necessary, for the delivery of SUN groups. 

As a key member of a new team of Clinical and Lived Experience SUN facilitators, the post-holder will contribute to the development and delivery of a facilitated peer support SUN service across Bedfordshire and Luton. The key responsibilities include:

  1. Working with the SUN service manager to organise and ensure the delivery of the programme of facilitated peer support groups in the area.
  2. Delivering between 3 and 5 facilitated peer support SUN groups every week, both online and in person.
  3. Co-facilitating SUN groups with Lived Experience SUN Facilitators, leading on safety plans and risk management.
  4. Developing co-produced Resource and Support Plans with participants in the SUN groups, according to the service protocols.
  5. Providing day-to day support to the Lived Experience SUN facilitators employed by Mind-BLMK, our Voluntary Sector partner.
  6. Promoting SUN and ensuring robust relationships and links with other community-based mental health services and service provides (for example, Primary Care Link Workers, NHS Talking Therapies, core mental health services, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams, Mental Health Street Triage).  
  7. Working with colleagues and SUN members to co-produce key elements of the operational arrangements of the service through member involvement.
  8. Chairing team planning meetings and business meetings with support from the SUN Service Manager on a rotational basis.
  9. Leading and supporting the Lived Experience SUN facilitators to plan, organise and facilitate focus groups and meetings with SUN members to further develop a truly co-produced SUN service.
  10. Delivering online events, presentations (both online and in person) to widely promote and publicise the SUN service.
  11. Inducting and training new staff in the SUN model.  
  12. Ensuring the collection of relevant data on work activities, inputting data onto SUN databases as required, and maintaining a high standard of clinical record keeping.
  13. Maintaining a high standard of care in all areas of practice in accordance with the relevant professional Code of Conduct and guidelines.
  14. Ensuring compliance with statutory & mandatory training.

Person specification

Education/ Qualification/ Training

Essential criteria
  • • Professional Qualification in Mental Health Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Arts Therapy or Social Work
  • • Current HCPC/NMC/SWE registration
  • • Willingness to undertake training in the SUN model, which is based on coping process modification, therapeutic community ethos and culture, and psychoanalytic principles.

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Post-qualification experience of providing a range of evidence- based interventions to people with a variety of mental health problems and serious mental illness.
  • • Post-qualification experience of working with people with a diagnosis of personality disorder or traits of this that interfere with daily functioning.
  • • Post-qualification experience of risk assessment and management of people with a diagnosis or traits of ‘personality disorder’.
  • • Experience of facilitating groups within a mental health setting.
  • • Experience of working in a co-produced way, and of actively participating in co-produced service planning and delivery.
  • • Experience, skills and ability to liaise effectively with other agencies and professionals
Desirable criteria
  • • Experience of supporting and supervising staff and students.
  • • Experience of teaching/training others

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria
  • • Ability to apply an understanding of diversity, difference and rights to interactions with people with complex emotional needs associated with a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder.’
  • • Ability to work collaboratively as a team member and flexibly across a service.
  • • Ability to undertake a dynamic risk assessment and develop a safety plan in collaboration with service users.
  • • Advanced knowledge and understanding of risk management practice with service users who have a diagnosis of ‘‘personality disorder’’.
  • • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills both verbal and written.
  • • Good IT skills and sound understanding of Word, Powerpoint, and Excel.
  • • Demonstrable skills in clinical outcome evaluation, audit, research and/or clinical governance.
Desirable criteria
  • • Knowledge and skills in delivering the SUN model.

Other

Essential criteria
  • • Emotionally resilient and able to sensitively and effectively cope with stressful situations including staff and /or organisational challenges, child abuse, family breakdown, serious mental ill health, verbal abuse and hostility/aggression.
  • • Capable of reflective practice, and able to enable other teams/individuals to engage in reflective practice.
  • • Self-motivated, and able to work both independently and as part of a team/community.
  • • Willingness and ability to travel between sites across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and occasionally, London.
Desirable criteria
  • • Driving license and access to a vehicle insured for business use.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Capital Nurse, LondonCommitted to being an Inclusive EmployerApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveHSJ Best places to workArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Carol-Ann Sargent
Job title
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01582 293000
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