Meet David, one of our Approved Mental Health Professionals…
I started working for the Council in 1982 as a support worker with adults with a learning disability at the Burnham ‘Combined’ Day Centre. This was a great experience, and I was able to set up a number of activity sessions including gardening and a music group. I began my social work training in 1984 and went on to work as a deputy manager for a home for older people and then as a psychiatric social worker at St John’s Hospital in Stone.
I qualified as an Approved Social Worker (ASW) in 1989 and have maintained my status as either An ASW or Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) continuously since this time. Prior to my current post, I spent 20 years working in various senior management roles in both children’s and adult mental health services. I made a choice in 2020 to return to a dedicated AMHP role and have enjoyed being back on the front line.
The Out of Hours part of the AMHP service is a small team of four practitioners and a deputy manager. We provide a Mental Health Act Assessment service for all Bucks residents and work hard to achieve the best outcomes for vulnerable and distressed individuals. We seek to establish the best option of support and treatment whilst considering all the relevant risk factors.
The team are highly supportive of each other and enjoy excellent working relationships with a high degree of cooperation. We are based at the Whiteleaf Centre (a health resource) and have excellent working ties with our health colleagues and receive regular supervision from our manager.
The work is challenging and can be fast-paced, particularly if there are several pieces of work to deal with at the same time. I enjoy the autonomy of the role but have management and inter-agency support available should I require it.
I have seen many changes over the years from the old County Council to the current unitary council. I have established some excellent working relationships over the years and my knowledge and experience of both living and working in the county has been an integral part of my life since leaving school.
We seek to work closely with families and will make connections with other relevant services when this is needed. The council has maintained strong working relationships with health services and has enabled effective integrated working to happen whilst many other councils have chosen to revert to more single agency-focused services. We also work closely with the police and emergency health services and will undertake assessments at local hospitals and other key locations.
We attend at least three mandatory training sessions each year to maintain our AMHP registration; these are often informative and link us with other support resources. The council has also enabled me to train and work as a practice educator and I continue to supervise and support social work students alongside my substantive role. We receive monthly supervision and are able to discuss key learning needs with our managers as required, so there are excellent opportunities for career growth and development with the council and many options to try out other career pathways, too.
We’re currently seeking experienced and compassionate mental health professionals to join our team. Find out more and apply today: https://shorturl.at/pBK26
