Perinatal Mental Health Practitioner

I am Laura, a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Nurse with the North Perinatal Mental Health Team. We support women with severe or complex mental health conditions who are planning pregnancy, pregnant or have a child under one. We provide high quality, evidence-based specialist advice, assessment, and interventions.

I joined the team in 2017 having worked for many years as a CPN in Adult Mental Health Teams. My interest in perinatal mental health, came from working with ladies with perinatal mental health needs, within a community team and being part of the development of perinatal mental health services locally within CPFT. I developed my passion for working within perinatal mental health due to the unique nature of this work, not just working with the ladies themselves, but also with their babies and families.

I fundamentally believe having specialist perinatal mental health treatment can make a huge difference to women, who can experience a real sense of guilt and shame linked to being mentally unwell at this time. We provide an individualised and specialist multi-disciplinary approach for the ladies we work alongside, all with a compassion focused approach to the care the team delivers.

My team are passionate about developing their staff, from the beginning. This investment in training means you do not need to have perinatal experience to join our team. You will have the opportunity to join an exceptional team, with the resources and passion to invest in you.

If you are successful, you will work with mothers, their infants and families who are at risk of or experiencing severe and complex perinatal mental health conditions. You will have a caseload of ladies that you work with as care coordinator, linking in with the wider treatment options available within the team via our nursery nurses, occupational therapists, and psychologists. We prefer to see our mums in their home environment as this is often easier for them with small children. As a care coordinator you would be involved in developing care plans and liaising with family members, carers and significant others to support the development and management of individuals care plans.

You will also be working with women, to support them to understand the nature of their mental health challenges (psycho education), helping women develop coping strategies and relapse prevention plans, linking in with wider third sector agencies.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle.You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

• DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high caliber candidates that share out vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disable people & members of our BAME & LGBTQ+ communities.

For further information on CPFT please visit our website: www.cpft.nhs.uk

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• To be part of the development of the Countywide Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service.
• To work directly with women, their infants and families who are at risk of or experiencing severe and complex perinatal mental health conditions.
• To contribute to the development and delivery of Perinatal Mental Health Training and Education to other staffing groups.
• To participate in safeguarding adult enquiries and complete safeguarding lead training.
• Mentor and co-mentor student nurses.
• To provide medication advice and information within their competency.
• Provide supervision to junior staff.
• To work jointly with staff from other services.
• To provide specialist advice and consultation to other staff regarding the management of women experiencing severe and complex mental health conditions during the perinatal phase including guidance on management and signposting where conditions do not require input from a specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service.
• Attend professional’s meetings and other meetings to offer advice where appropriate.
• Develop close working relationships and liaison work with our team’s key stakeholders including maternity services and health visiting.
• Linking with the Named Professionals for Safeguarding Children, Psychiatric Liaison Team, and other relevant staff.
• To work as part of a team and autonomously as required.
• To provide care coordination to women experiencing severe or complex mental health conditions.
• To provide specialist perinatal initial assessments.