Featured job: Young People's Transition Practitioner

Amanda Roles, Senior Manager of Children’s Services at HR Mencap, says: ‘You could describe the role as being about supporting young people who feel lost. This person empowers service users and their families as they make the difficult and sometimes very confusing transition from children’s to adult services.’

Hammersmith and Fulham Mencap was founded in the mid-60s and is an independent local charity, affiliated to Mencap, with a variety of projects. ‘We’re an advocacy organisation ensuring our service users have a voice in the community. Like any charity our services are fluid, depending on what funding is available and what services local authorities are providing, but our projects range from a play scheme attended by disabled children and their non-disabled siblings to a youth service and activity centre from which adults access the community. We have around 12 full time staff and 20-25 support workers at any time.’

Last year the organisation piloted the role of Transitions Practitioner, ‘so the groundwork has been done. It was a great success and the idea is being picked up elsewhere in London. The previous incumbent has gone on to UCL so we’re looking for someone to develop the post now we’ve got funding from the NHS for another year. The role involves supporting 14-25-year olds with learning disability and / or Autistic Spectrum Disorder, who also have a mental health disorder, as they make the transition from child to adult services. These might be young people who are doing quite well academically but who lack the required social or living skills to go to university, for instance. Other cases might involve young people with additional medical needs moving hospitals. The practitioner works with them and their families to develop an integrated pathway, signposting where they can get the skills or support to get them where they want and need to be. The first post holder worked with about 20 cases in the first year.’

The practitioner needs to be able to engage and work with professionals in other services as well as CAMHS, who will provide clinical consultation. ‘He or she will need to be resilient, articulate, confident and firm. Psychological competency is important in discussions and this is probably not a job that would suit someone who has gone straight from school and has just graduated: it needs experience of this sort of service delivery, these sorts of service users and a degree of maturity and life experience. If you’ve got these you’ll find yourself working with a dedicated, supportive team who are focused on the hugely rewarding job of empowering our clients.’

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