Band 6 Specialist Autism Practitioner - Bristol

Job description

Job overview

Bristol Autism Spectrum Service (BASS) provides specialist assessment, formulation, and intervention for autistic adults and their families/carers across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG).

BASS is currently undertaking an ambitious transformation programme, moving from a predominantly diagnostic-led service towards a needs-led model of care. This will include the development of structured triage, needs-based assessment, and a wider range of specialist interventions designed to improve outcomes.

Initially, the post-holder will contribute primarily to complex specialist assessments within a multidisciplinary team. Over time, as the transformation progresses, the role will evolve to include a greater focus on the delivery of specialist interventions. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to help shape this innovative service transformation and contribute their professional expertise to the ongoing development of the pathway.

We are seeking enthusiastic and compassionate practitioners who are passionate about improving outcomes for autistic people and who have experience of working with autistic adults and/or people with neurodevelopmental disorders. Applicants must have experience of undertaking specialist assessments with highly complex individuals, providing highly specialist therapeutic interventions with adults with complex needs and/or enduring mental health problems.

Main duties of the job

To provide specialist assessment, formulation and intervention to people accessing the service .

Where appropriate, to work along side other professionals working with autistic people to advise on assessment and intervention.

Participate in CPD and other developmental activities.

Undertake R & D and clinical audit as required as well as delivering training.

Help in the clinical supervision and support of other staff and students

Working for our organisation

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

To provide a service to Bristol Autism Spectrum Service including assessment and intervention to both individuals and groups as appropriate. Supervision will be available for formulation and diagnosis following assessment.

To provide a specialist consultancy service to mental health teams and other agencies providing care for the client group.

To participate in generic team duties as agreed by the Team manager as appropriate, to the needs of the service.

To participate in clinical and caseload supervision arrangements provided by the team

To maintain accurate records and to monitor clinical workload using agreed systems.

Professional

To fully observe the appropriate code of conduct of your professional body and to be registered with the appropriate registration body.

To be aware of, adhere to, and where appropriate, contribute to the formulation and review of Trust, Area and Clinical policies and procedures relating to autism diagnostic services.

To participate in local team meetings and trust wide autism service meetings as appropriate.

To maintain and develop high standards of clinical practice by engaging in continuing professional development and co-operative working/networking with other colleagues involved in autism services.

To participate in an annual performance appraisal.

Service Governance

To participate in service and professional governance processes.

To support and participate in multidisciplinary clinical audit.

To liaise with other disciplines and agencies to ensure that best practice is shared.

To promote the use of effective assessment processes in the service.

Training & Staff Development

To provide training, supervision and consultation in autism services to other staff in AWP teams. This to include joint assessment with care coordinators, formulation of autism diagnosis and planning of interventions to be implemented by care co-ordinators or other team members with service users.

To agree a plan of personal development with the team manager.

Research & Development

To participate in audit and service evaluation activities examining the effectiveness of current service delivery and leading to development of services relevant to client needs.

To provide advice, support and consultation to colleagues from other disciplines undertaking research in the area.

Person specification

Essential

Essential criteria

• Recognised qualification in Occupational Therapy, Nursing or Speech and Language Therapy, HPC or NMC Registration
• Demonstrates substantial post-registration experience gained working in a range of front-line adult mental health or learning disability services, undertaking assessment and delivering interventions
• Experience of working in an autism service/team or Mental Health Team where some service users had autism.
• Effective team player with good communication and liaison skills.
• Well organised with good administration skills.
• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and /or neurodevelopmental disorders and ability to cope with behaviour which may be challenging at times.
• Ability to cope with workload pressure/prioritise workload.

We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with 'lived-experience' of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities,- we are a 'Disability Confident Employer' offering a guaranteed interview to Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.

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