Mental Health Practitioner

Transformation Unit; Rother; Remote; GBP 32,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing programmes

Supervision programmes

Flexible working patterns

Parking reimbursement

Child care vouchers

NHS discount schemes

Generous holiday entitlement

NHS Pension contributions

Job summary

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is looking for a Mental Health Practitioner to join the Primary Care and Partnerships Team within the Rother NMHT. The role involves triaging referrals, carrying out assessments, delivering brief interventions and coordinating onward referrals with NHS and partner services.

You will work with multidisciplinary teams, provide guidance, and support continuous professional development.

Qualifications

• Essential qualifications include registered Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker with current registration.
• Experience in clinical work with diverse mental health populations and across age groups.
• Experience in providing low intensity psychological interventions (self-help, behavioural activation, CBT-informed approaches).

Responsibilities

• Triaging referrals and conducting timely, consistent assessments.
• Providing brief interventions and onward referrals as needed.
• Liaising with NMHT colleagues, partner organisations and VCSE providers.
• Providing expert advice and supervision to colleagues.
• Contributing to safeguarding and quality standards.

Skills

Clinical assessment

Risk assessment

Low intensity interventions

Partnership working

Communication skills

Education

Registered Mental Health Nurse

Occupational Therapist

Social Worker

Job description

We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.

At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.

We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.

We recognise that tools like AI are becoming part of everyday life and you may choose to use them when preparing your application. We welcome this, as long as what you submit reflects your own experience, skills and voice. AI can be helpful for structuring or refining your answers, but it should not replace your own examples or create content that isn’t based on your real experience.

Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring. You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page.

We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.

Job overview

We are pleased to be able to offer an exciting opportunity to join the Primary Care and Partnerships team within the Rother Neighbourhood Mental Health Team (NMHT) as a Mental Health Practitioner (MHP).

This role will be part of a team of Mental Health Practitioners working into the newly formed NMHT's. You will be part of the core team working alongside the Specialist Adult Service, Specialist Older Adult Service and VCSE Partners.

The MHP role will provide a critical function in triaging referrals into the service, providing timely and consistent assessments, brief interventions and onward referral as required. Liaison with key stakeholders and third sector organisations also forms part of this role.

This post offers the Trust's £2,000 Golden Hello or Relocation Incentive for Band 6 Nurses & Practitioners, (pro rata and subject to terms and conditions; please see attached Protocol Document for full details).

Main duties of the job

It is essential that you are a registered Mental Health Professional (Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist). Your role will include carrying out assessments, brief interventions, triage, onward referrals to Secondary or Urgent Care Services (if this is needed) and signposting advice. The successful applicant should have excellent clinical skills in assessment, risk assessment and as well as strong communication skills.

You will be working closely with a range of professional groups, including NMHT colleagues, partner organisations, VCSE providers, and other aligned services within the Neighbourhood as well as NHS Talking Therapies Teams. Providing expert advice, guidance, and supporting colleagues will constitute a key element of this role.

As a Mental Health Trust, Sussex Partnership offers a supportive working environment and the opportunity for staff to flourish and professionally develop. We have a strong philosophy of a collaborative and client centred approach and staff wellbeing is integral in our philosophy and in our practice. We have a huge focus on the wellbeing of staff and our reward packages reflect the immensely important work our staff do. If you are looking for the opportunity to work within a busy but rewarding team in a town like no other, then we would love to hear from you.

As a practitioner in our team we can offer you:

• Access to numerous wellbeing and support programmes
• Excellent supervision programmes, with ongoing opportunities for training and development
• Flexible working patterns
• Reimbursed parking
• Child care vouchers
• Access to a host of NHS discount schemes (including gyms, shopping, restaurants and cars)
• A position within a trust rated as 'Outstanding' for caring and 'Good' overall by the CQC
• Generous holiday entitlement (dependent on length of NHS service) starting at 27 days + 8 bank holidays
• NHS Pension contributions

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential Qualifications

Registered Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker with current registration appropriate to the job role.
Evidence of continuous professional development.

Experience/Knowledge

Extensive post-qualifying experience of clinical work with people with a range of mental health problems across all age and disability categories.
Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non-statutory teams and agencies.
Experience in working consultatively with professionals.
Experience of providing low intensity psychological interventions including, provision of self help, behavioural activation, solution focused, guided self help, and a CBT informed approach using a range of delivery models.
Experienced in conducting clinical assessments, including risk assessments.

Name:

Job title

Primary Care and Partnerships Team Lead, Rother NMHT

Please contact Philipa Kerr on 0300 304 0244 or via email at [e-mail] for an opportunity to discuss the vacancy.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Mental Health qualification or equivalent
• Include relevant professional registration

Knowledge/Experience

• Extensive post-qualifying experience of clinical work with people with a range of mental health problems
• Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non-statutory teams and agencies
• Experience in working consultatively with professionals
• Experience of providing low intensity psychological interventions including, provision of self help, behavioural activation, solution focused, guided self help, and a CBT informed approach using a range of delivery models, telephone, face to face , individual and workshops
• Experienced in conducting clinical assessments, including risk assessments

SPFT is committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and from disabled candidates, as these groups are currently underrepresented.

Successful candidates are normally appointed to the bottom of the pay scale unless previous NHS experience in a similar role can be evidenced.

SPFT takes its responsibilities for safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk very seriously. We expect all staff and bank workers to share this commitment and complete the relevant safeguarding training for their role.

If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful. However, we’ll always do our best to keep you informed as we know how much time and care goes into applying for a role.

In the event of a high number of applications, we may close this vacancy early.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.