Practitioner - Criminal Justice Mental Health Service

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled practitioner, with an interest and/or experience in the criminal justice system, to be an integral part of both a court liaison and diversion team and a police custody suite assessment team. You will be working with both adults and young people, within what is a very interesting and rewarding area of care that is continuing to develop further.

As a front‑line service, each day can be different in what is often a busy and unpredictable environment.

The service ethos is to proactively intervene at the earliest possible opportunity in the Criminal Justice system pathway, so that those in need of support receive appropriate care and treatment in a timely fashion.

The people we provide services to come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because it makes us better at what we do. No matter your age, gender, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, religion or sexual orientation, if you are committed to generating the best possible outcomes for our service users then we want to hear from you.

As a Liaison and Diversion Practitioner, some of the responsibilities you can expect will include:

• Proactive screening of cases in police custody or at court.
• On‑the‑day triaging and assessment - including full mental state examinations, risk assessment and gathering of background history for individuals presenting with a wide variety of established or suspected needs. These can include anxiety, challenging behaviour, serious mental illness, personality disorder, neurodiversity needs speech and language difficulties, substance misuse and associated social issues within police custody.
• Responding to detainees who present with urgent and non‑urgent clinical issues with appropriate interventions. Interventions may include onward referrals for a Mental Health Act assessment, advice, signposting or making onward referrals into primary, secondary or voluntary care agencies.
• Providing advice, information and support to custody/court personnel.
• Provision of written assessment summaries to police, court and other relevant agencies in the criminal justice pathway.
• Liaising with CAMHS, YOT practitioners or other relevant agencies whilst screening young people.
• Recording data for regular auditing and evaluation.