Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP)

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

In this section you should cover the following:

The team and the purpose of the team - including details of the overall service if appropriate. You can also include here any team/service awards, inspection ratings (if applicable), positives, direction and culture of the service/team etc.

We are seeking an AMHP to join our day time AMHP service on a 1 year contract, working 4 days per week.

The Royal Borough's AMHP service is set within the Mental Health Social Care Team based at Tolworth Hospital and is managed by the Lead AMHP.

The service covers working hours Monday to Friday.

We operate a hybrid working model incorporating office based work, and working from home.

The applicant would undertake Mental Health Act Assessments and other legal duties as appropriate under the Mental Health Act and other legislation, but would not also hold a social care case load.

The service operates on the basis of a duty rota, and there is a Duty Manager every day to provide oversight, and access to advice. The AMHPs on duty meet every day in the morning for 30 minutes on line to plan the work of the day, which is monitored via a live assessment log.

The Royal Borough of Kingston is one of 5 boroughs covered by SWLSTG Mental Health NHS Trust. There are key joint arrangements with the other boroughs, including an shared out of hours service, and a shared training programme, to which all AMHPS have access

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

In this section you should cover the following:

About the role

Purpose of the job - in no more than 20 words describe the purpose of the job.

What the job actually requires - In approximately five bullet points describe what the successful candidate will really be expected to do (not the formal job description but the actual requirements) - It may help to describe what a current member of staff is doing today.

About you

Any essential qualifications, experience and skills you are looking for in your successful candidate - You can include desirable requirements too but make it clear between what is essential and what is desirable.

Please don't list bullet points only form the person specification, please make sure this section is written to keep candidates engaged in the advert. The full person specification is not to be copied and pasted into this section, only parts and then expanded on so the job description provides more information.

The applicant would undertake Mental Health Act Assessments and other legal duties as appropriate under the Mental Health Act and other legislation, but would not also hold a social care case load.

They would be responsible for taking referrals, and giving appropriate advice to other professionals as well as liaising appropriately with the relevant NHS Trusts and health professionals.They would co-ordinate arrangements from MHA assessments, including with Police under local arrangements.

Kingston AMHPs have access to specific AMHP related training of a high standard which is shared between the AMHP services of Richmond, Wandsworth, Kingston and Sutton.

As the successful candidate you will be an AMHP with a minimum of 2 years experience, and a recent period of authorisation by a local authority. You will be able to demonstrate 18 hours of training for each year you have been warranted.

You will be able to demonstrate autonomous decision making and initiative, balanced with the ability to seek support where needed.

You will have excellent knowledge of the Mental Health Act and related legislation including the Mental Capacity Act.

You will be able to access locations in Kingston and South West London as part of your working day, to provide a timely response to referrals.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.