News

Grenfell Tower Trauma Service seeking nurses to support fire-hit community

Nurses with backgrounds in mental health services or experience of providing psychological therapies are needed to join a team supporting the community affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Counselling1

Nurses with backgrounds in mental health services or experience of providing psychological therapies are needed to join a team supporting the community affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Counselling2
Picture: iStock

The Central and North West London Foundation Trust (CNWL) created the Grenfell Tower Trauma Service in response to the devastating blaze in west London this June that claimed 80 lives.

More than 50 vacancies in the service’s outreach and therapy teams are being advertised.

Available roles are Band 5 to Band 8a, and include outreach worker, senior clinician deputy manager, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)/eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapist.

Outreach staff working for the trust have already knocked on 2,200 doors in neighbourhoods surrounding the tower and so far 600 people, including 100 children, have been referred to mental health specialists.

The advert for the new service reads: ‘The team is being set up to provide the largest service of its sort in the UK offering screening and treatment to a community who have been adversely impacted by the fire.

‘We anticipate that over the next months and years there will be significant numbers of people who will require specialist support and treatment to successfully overcome the negative psychological consequences of the fire.’

Media profile

The trust’s consultant clinical psychologist Alistair Bailey said: ‘Nursing applying to join the therapy team will need to be experienced at providing evidence-based psychological therapies, such as CBT and EMDR.

‘Those joining the outreach team will be required to get out into the community, and provide mental health advice and assessments as well as clinics on an ad-hoc basis.

‘The fire is an event with a high media profile and lots of scrutiny, so it would be helpful for everyone applying to bear that in mind.’

New staff will also be required to work alongside CNWL’s existing community services, including its primary care nurse liaison team, which works with local GP practices to support people with serious mental health problems.


Further information

In other news

Jobs