Mental Health Liaison Clinician - Learning Disability and Autism

Could you make a difference in the developing world of Neurodivergence?

Are you a Qualified Health Care Professional who is passionate about supporting clinicians to understand autism through the lens of difference?

As our Mental Health Liaison Clinician, you'll work with Oxford Health and Oxfordshire County Council Services in both inpatient and community settings, to support the access for autistic adults into these services and pathways. Our aim is to minimise inappropriate or avoidable admissions, safely reduce length of admissions, and reduce the delay of discharges for autistic service users and ensure an equitable service to autistic people. We can consider both full and part time hours for this role and we operate a hybrid working model.

We'd love to hear from you if you're a registered Nurse in Learning Disability/Mental Health, a Clinical Psychologist or Social Worker, or an Allied Health Professional (Speech & Language Therapist or Occupational Therapist).

If you have an interest in advocating for autistic and neurodivergent people and enjoy being involved in coproduction to shape how services work and support autistic people, the Reasonable Adjustment Service is the place for you!

Main duties of the job

You'll work with the team to drive the development of new approaches to reasonable adjustments and move away from the medicalised view of Autism as a disorder and impairment and reframing this through the lens of difference.

As a dedicated individual joining our enthusiastic and compassionate team, you will be instrumental in implementing change so that autistic people and / or people with a Learning Disability can access services in a way that is productive and meaningful for them.

Applicants must have a full valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle for work. Adjustments can be considered in line with the Equality Act 2010 where required. The team are currently hybrid working from home and the office, and therefore it is imperative to have internet access at home to accommodate this. There may be set days and times where you will be expected to be in the office.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast 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”

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 apply)

• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide support to mental health inpatient/community services, and adult social care services where an autistic / or suspected to be autistic patient or person with a learning-disability has additional needs in accessing that service.
  
  
• To work with the individual and the team to identify reasonable adjustments to improve the experience and quality of care received.
  
  
• To support the individual to have a better understanding of their autism, how this impact on their experience of the world and the adaptations required.
  
  
• Supporting complex cases, working across different services and providers to ensure holistic care is adjusted appropriately to the person’s needs.
  
  
• To support autistic individuals and clinical teams in accessing the Care and Treatment Reviews (CTR) process, and the clinical team in implementing CTR recommendations.
  
  
• Providing specific interventions as part of the service users overall care plan, for example: Zones of Regulation Work, Pacing and Prioritisation Work, Positive Behaviour Support Plans.
  
  
• Supporting completion of complex joint Assessments with Social care and Mental Health colleagues, leading on adjustments needed for these intervention to be effective.
  
  We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
  
  The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
  
  Person specification
  
  Qualifications
  
  Essential criteria
  
  
  • Relevant Core Professional Qualification- NMC/HCPC/SWE
    
    Desirable criteria
    
    
  • Degree in relevant subject
    
    Knowledge
    
    Essential criteria
    
    
  • Knowledge in Autism & Learning Disability
    
    Desirable criteria
    
    
  • Further qualifications in Autism
    
    Experience
    
    Essential criteria
    
    
  • Experience of supporting Autistic people.
    
    
  • Experience of working in Inpatient or Community settings.
    
    Desirable criteria
    
    
  • Experience of managing others
    
    
  • Experience in advising other clinicians and professional on their work with individuals
    
    
  • Working with Neurodivergent people with co-occurring conditions.
    
    
  • All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
    
    
  • Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
    
    
  • We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
    
    
  • Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
    
    
  • We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
    
    
  • We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
    
    
  • We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
    
    
  • Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing