An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Suffolk County Council (SCC) Crisis Help and Risk Intervention Service (CHRIS), working from Landmark House, Ipswich.  

Could you be our ideal worker? Are you compassionate and motivated? Are you interested in developing highly specialist knowledge and skills for supporting children, young people, and families (CFYP) experiencing crisis?  

CHRIS will be hosted by Suffolk County Council and will provide an enhanced multi-disciplinary team (MDT) risk support to children and young people up to the age of 18, their parents, carers, and practitioners when they are in crisis, using a psycho-social model. 

Your role 

In line with local transformation plans, CHRIS strives to adopt a ‘whole system’ approach to meeting the needs of children, young people, and their families, providing risk support at any stage of a young person’s journey. CHRIS will offer a range of options to referring practitioners, including consultation, joint work, training, and direct intensive face-to-face work with CFYP. You will play a key role in enabling and supporting the team to develop specialist expertise and skills and apply this within their work with CFYP.   

Your responsibilities  

Key responsibilities within the role include:

• working in conjunction with the senior team to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and responsive care to service users within the Crisis pathway in line with CQC requirements, NICE guidance, and Best Practice qualities and standards
• to provide clinical advice, leadership, supervision, and operational management to staff within the team in conjunction with the Service manager
• to work in partnership with other agencies and organisations to provide a consistent and joined-up service experience for CFYP
• to participate in and contribute to the leadership of MDT meetings and forums within the service. 

You will need 

• a relevant social work qualification and Social Work England registration are essential
• excellent communication skills, and the ability to work flexibly and creatively
• an openness to learning and a commitment to new ways of working
• team and/or practice management experience; or relevant transferrable skills with a desire to progress
• experience of supporting practitioners to form safe, trusting, and collaborative relationships with CFYP who may traditionally struggle to engage with services, and who may present with complex and significant mental health difficulties
• an interest and commitment to continuous personal and professional development, and reflective practice
• resilience and the capacity to remain calm and thoughtful in high-pressure or high-risk situations.  

The team 

CHRIS will wrap around any services that currently work with referred children and young people and the service is being designed to complement existing provision, forming part of the CFYP Mental Health Crisis Response pathway in Suffolk. It is anticipated that operational hours for the service will be 8am – 8pm Mon – Fri, and 9am – 1pm weekends and bank holidays. The Practice Manager and senior team are expected to cover core business hours.

We will offer you 

• a comprehensive clinical induction and learning and development programme is planned for all staff members joining CHRIS, to ensure the team are equipped with the necessary clinical knowledge, skills and expertise to effectively work in partnership with CFYP experiencing a mental health crisis and who require a risk support response. It is planned that the LOTUS team will receive an extensive and ongoing learning and development package, including full training in the AMBIT and DBT approaches, Suicide prevention training, and LGBTQ+ mental health training within the initial operational year
• you will be supported through thorough management and clinical induction process, in which individual learning and development needs will be identified and supported through formal and informal learning opportunities
• you will have access to a robust and comprehensive package to support you within your role, including Suffolk County Council Wellbeing resources, management supervision, monthly individual clinical supervision, monthly reflective practice groups, and weekly MDT meetings. 

Travelling requirements for your role 

This organisation positively encourages the use of technology to communicate and engage, but in this role, you will need to operate across a wide and rural area, so you must either hold a full and current driving licence and have access to personal transport or meet the mobility requirements of the role through other reasonable and suitable means. 

For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Anita Farrant on (01473) 265 890. 

Due to the current situation with Covid-19, we have strict limitations on staff working in our offices and most of us are being asked to work from home.  If you wish to discuss how that might impact your working arrangements, please contact the recruiting manager listed at the bottom of this advert. 

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS checks or police vetting will be required for relevant posts.