PATH and ARMS

PATH is an Early Intervention in Psychosis Service. We provide the First Episode Psychosis Pathway that is clearly laid out by the Department of Health.

What is Psychosis?

Psychosis is a group of symptoms rather than a diagnosis. It includes individuals experiencing delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder. Individuals can also present with bizarre behaviour, cognitive symptoms, lack of motivation, and poor self-care.

People often experience their first psychotic episode in their early 20’s, although for females there is also a peak in their late 40’s associated with menopausal symptoms.

In truth, our service user group is incredibly varied. We work with individuals who recover well, return to work, keep their family, social networks and employment intact and we work with individuals who are significantly impacted by their illness, who have more complex presentations and are unable to sustain relationships, and employment and everything in between. We work with people who are actively psychotic or people whose psychosis has resolved, but they continue to experience other mental health issues such as depression or anxiety. We work with people who are impacted by what has happened to them, who are trying to understand and make sense of their illness and working towards recovery and putting their life back together post psychosis.

This level of variety makes every day interesting, as no two individuals are the same. There is real hope of full recovery for the individuals we work with.

What are the standards?

This is the provision of the NICE guidance for psychosis. We are encouraged to provide high quality of care and funded to do so. We provide intensive support now, to enable people to live a life without mental health services. The pathway involves the standard elements of care coordination – risk management, medication management and mental health support. It then builds on these core elements to help individuals recover and rebuild or maintain their lives. These elements outlined below:

What area does the service cover?

The PATH service is divided into two teams: PATH West and PATH East and North (E&N). PATH West covers Watford, Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and the surrounding areas. PATH E&N covers North Herts and Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, Bishop’s Stortford, Ware, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and the surrounding areas.

As a member of the PATH team, you will be an active member of a skilled multi-disciplinary team. You will be working together with your colleagues to provide our PATH service in localities within Hertfordshire. Each Care Co-ordinator covers a designated locality – not the whole county. This means you’ll travel less and work out in the community, both in people’s homes and our local hub buildings. You’ll be passionate in the delivery of recovery based and collaborative approaches to care planning, working flexibly and creatively with people in order to achieve their individual goals.

How does the team work?

Our ‘Caseload Mini Team’ workforce model is unique and highly supportive of collaborative working. The band 6 Care Coordinator will be the leader of the Mini Team, working closely with a band 4 and 5 colleague to manage the caseload together.

Mini teams are supported by psychiatrists, psychologists, senior social worker, nurse consultant, team leaders and managers.

Hear from some our PATH colleagues and find out why they love working in the team. Scroll down for current vacancies.

Meet the team:

Gill - PATH Team Leader

Sarata - Care Co-ordinator

Betty - Support Time and Recovery Worker

Bryony - Associate Practitioner

Here’s what we’ll offer you:

You’ll be offered a structured 12-week induction programme, giving you access to FEP specific learning and development opportunities to give you the confidence and skills to start delivering the FEP pathway to our service users

Your development is our focus and we will offer a range of ways for you to further your career. You’ll have access to personal coaching, to help you achieve your goals, coupled with 100-day conversations and a high quality supervision and appraisal programme.

You’ll be an important part of an innovative, creative and developing service. We are committed to a future where we use continuous quality improvement to harness your ideas for service development and make them a reality

You’ll work with a team who have highly specialist knowledge, experience and skills around FEP, where you will have access to a comprehensive internal training package to develop these skills in your first year too

Delivering the FEP Pathway is a chance to change service users lives, teaching them the skills to self-manage their illness and encouraging self-reliance and independence, as well as helping them rebuild their lives

You’ll be working with people who come with a variety of needs, at various stages of their illness and recovery

HPFT offers a wide variety of competitive employee benefits including access to a range of salary sacrifice schemes and discounts, a lease car scheme AND Excellent pension provision with up to 42 days leave per year.

Vacancies:

At Risk Mental State Team (ARMS)

The At Risk Mental State (ARMS) team is a team who offer swift access to advice and support for individuals aged 16-35 years old, who may be having unusual experiences and thoughts that are distressing for the first time. The team works to identify individuals who could be at risk of developing ‘Psychosis’ and to promptly support them to get back on track.

The team members include Wellbeing Practitioners, Support Workers, and Psychologists. We are a person-centered service with an ethos of hope, that is led by psychology and work alongside service users and people who are important to them.

Our vision is a whole team commitment to work flexibly and creatively with individuals and their community to be able to manage any mental health difficulties to prevent or delay the development of ‘Psychosis’ and to support them in fulfilling their potential.

The ARMS team works in a holistic way, offering psychology input focusing on making sense and supporting people to cope with unusual thoughts and experiences. We work with people returning to their valued activities, alongside taking up new opportunities with vocational and employment support. We also work with people and their community to support and guide their recovery and offer carers support.

Delivering the ARMS pathway will give professionals the chance to develop and shape ways of working. You’ll be working with people who come with a variety of needs, many of which will be engaging with mental health services for the first time. You’ll work with a team who have specialist knowledge, experience, and skills around ARMS. You will have access to a comprehensive internal training package to develop these skills in your first year. You’ll be offered a structured induction program, giving you access to ARMS and ‘psychosis’ learning and development opportunities to give you the confidence and skills to start delivering the ARMS pathway to our service users.