Senior Community Practitioner | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; Croydon; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health care provider is seeking a Senior Practitioner to join their team in Croydon. The role involves conducting mental health assessments, developing care plans, and supervising junior staff. The ideal candidate will possess strong experience in mental health services with a commitment to providing high-quality care. This position offers generous benefits, including flexible working arrangements and career development opportunities.

Benefits

Generous pay and pensions

Flexible working options

Career development opportunities

Keyworker housing options

NHS discounts from various retail brands

Qualifications

• Experienced in delivering specialist mental health assessments.
• Strong knowledge of care planning for mental health services.
• Ability to supervise and support junior practitioners.

Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive needs assessments and develop tailored care plans.
• Supervise and support community practitioners and contribute to their development.
• Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams.

Skills

Mental health assessment

Care planning

Intervention strategies

Team collaboration

Education

Registered Mental Health Nurse qualification or equivalent

Job description

Overview

Are you an experienced Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN), Mental Health Social Worker, or Occupational Therapist looking to take the next step in your career?

This is a fantastic opportunity to broaden your professional experience and deepen your expertise within a supportive and forward-thinking multidisciplinary team. We provide specialist mental health services to adults aged 18–65 living in the London Borough of Croydon. Our team offers timely assessments, expert advice, and tailored care planning for individuals experiencing moderate to severe mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and personality disorders.

Working alongside dedicated professionals, nurses, doctors, social workers, you’ll collaborate closely with service users, their carers, and GPs to ensure holistic, person-centred care.

Responsibilities

1. As a Senior Practitioner you will operate as a highly skilled and autonomous clinician, delivering specialist mental health assessments, care planning, and brief interventions for adults referred to the service. You will:
2. Conduct comprehensive needs assessments and develop tailored care plans.
3. Provide short-term interventions (up to 12 weeks) to support recovery and wellbeing.
4. Signpost service users to appropriate external services and facilitate safe discharge to primary care where suitable.
5. Supervise and support community practitioners, contributing to their development and ensuring high standards of care.
6. Offer comprehensive, specialist, initial assessments and formulations to service users, manage a small caseload of transitional mental health problems, exercise autonomous professional judgement for assessment and transfer to relevant teams, provide ongoing assessment and outcome monitoring, participate in team assessment and duty rota, liaise with crisis services and out-of-hours services, and provide evidence-based care as outlined in NICE guidance.
7. Attend regular clinical and management supervision and appraisal; provide specialist teaching and training of mental health professionals and other staff; undertake mentorship of students.
8. Maintain standards of practice and Codes of Conduct (NMC/HCPC), ensure client confidentiality, participate in performance reviews, and maintain accurate records.
9. Form and maintain effective working relationships with borough services, primary care practices, and ensure user and carer views are incorporated into care; ensure care is sensitive to a diverse population.
10. Contribute to the development of best practice, maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation and policies related to Mental Health and Primary Care Services, and undertake duties as assigned by the Clinical Service Lead (including deputising in the absence of the Clinical Lead and acting as duty supervisor).
11. Comply with statutory requirements and Trust employment policies; ensure data protection and confidentiality of information processed for patients and staff.
12. Engage in ongoing professional development, including participation in projects and training events; duties may evolve to reflect changing needs of the organisation.
13. This post is subject to continual development and may include changes in duties over time.

Collaboration

You will work collaboratively with a wide range of professionals and services on a daily basis, including:

• Multidisciplinary colleagues within the team
• Other borough-based mental health teams
• External agencies and primary care providers

Team Support and Leadership

In addition to clinical responsibilities, you will support the Team Leader and Service Manager in maintaining service delivery, which includes:

• Monitoring performance against key targets
• Managing staff absences and ensuring adequate team coverage
• Providing supervision to junior staff
• Offering management support and leadership in the Team Leader’s absence

Values and Working Arrangements

Our Values: We provide specialist care aligned with Trust values—caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listening, and following through on commitments. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special. The Trust supports flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave; comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package dependent on role and length of service
• Work-life balance, flexible working options
• Career development; opportunities to progress through mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Accommodation: keyworker housing on selected sites
• NHS discounts up to 10% from various retail brands

Other benefits include:
Croydon Carers parking permit; Counselling services; Wellbeing events

This advert closes on Thursday 2 Oct 2025