Mental Health Practitioners help bridge the gap in mental health services for children and young people in Greater Manchester. They include nurses, social workers and occupational therapists.
As a Mental Health Practitioner you’ll play a vital role in making sure children and young people get the support they need. Working out of a community setting, you will recommend evidence-based interventions and care plans that help families overcome mental health difficulties.
You must have proven experience of working with people with mental health difficulties including assessing and managing risk, providing evidence-based assessments, liaising with other professional bodies, and managing caseloads.
Qualifications in psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy are desirable.
- Promote and improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people
- Act as a bridge between primary care and mental health services
- Undertake needs-led, evidence-based assessments
- Provide intervention for mild to moderate mental health difficulties
- Liaise and support partnerships between your Trust and community providers
- Improve access to local support services and reduce health inequalities
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I work in parent infant mental health, in an early attachment service. I work in a team of clinical psychologists, social workers, health visitors, psychotherapists and a psychiatrist. Our service helps to understand and support the relationship between parents and babies from conception through to two years. There is lots of evidence that a baby’s social and emotional development is affected by their attachment to their parents within this critical period. Sometimes, things can impact on this relationship, like parental mental health difficulties or parents’ own difficult experience of being parented.
I previously worked in an adolescent mental health service, and many of the young people I worked with had experience of early trauma and difficult relationships. I felt drawn to support families at an early stage, to help prevent some of these longer-term difficulties.
There really isn’t a typical day as the role is very varied! I visit families at home, as well as offering consultations and networking with other services. I have supervision at least once a week; working with babies adds a level of intensity and vulnerability to the work, and supervision is so important to contain this. I also attend a weekly team meeting and regular training and deliver training to other professionals.
I attend regular training, both face to face and online, relating to the field. I also do my own self -directed learning. In our weekly team meetings and quarterly ‘away days’ we discuss relevant research and developments.
After working with a family for a long time, seeing a parent build their confidence, and develop a positive relationship with their infant, is so rewarding.
Being able to work in a team is essential. Although we each carry our own caseload, most of the care planning about each family is made as a team or in supervision. Being thoughtful and reflective is also key to hold the experience of both the parent and baby in mind. Observational skills are important, particularly in relation to picking up cues from the baby and reading what they might be communicating to us. Being patient! It’s easy to want to offer a ‘quick fix’ but that isn’t possible in parent infant mental health – it’s a slow service.
Experience of working in mental health, trauma, and early development are a good background for entering the field.
There is no specific additional certification you need to enter the field, however useful training could include trauma and attachment, sensory processing and baby bonding.
Working with vulnerable families it feels important to be very present and give our full attention, so we don’t bring laptops or devices on visits. We do offer a therapy called VIG (video interaction guidance), which involves video recording interactions between parent and infant. It’s a strengths-based approach, helping to promote attunement and mentalisation in relationships.
For me it’s connecting with the baby’s experience that keeps me in the field, as they are so vulnerable and it feels so important to give them a voice. Although it can be challenging, I feel privileged to work in an incredibly skilled and supportive team.
The video below published by the Psychological Professions Network describes the role of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner as part of the career map for the psychological professions.
