Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Prison Team

NSFT; Norwich; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Part-time hours

Job summary

NSFT is offering a Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner role based at Norwich Prison. This permanent, part-time position (25 hours per week) covers a 7-day service between 8am and 7pm with flexible shifts.

You will join a multidisciplinary team within Secure & Forensic Services, undertaking mental health assessments, managing caseloads, and working with prison, liaison, and community partners to support individuals through the criminal justice pathway.

Qualifications

• Familiar with undertaking clinical assessments including risk assessments.
• Experience of working with challenging clients.
• Experience of completing mental health assessments.
• Previous experience of working in the prison, secure environment or criminal justice pathway community.

Responsibilities

• Complete mental health assessments of service users within custody and create plans for support.
• Caseload management and independent work to meet service user needs.
• Co-production with service users and referrals to partner agencies within and beyond the prison.
• Work collaboratively with prison colleagues and promote partnership working.

Skills

Clinical assessments

Risk assessment

Prison environment experience

Team collaboration

Job description

Band 6

Main area Senior Mental Health Practitioner Grade Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Flexible working

25 hours per week (7 day a week service between hours of 8am and 7pm. Length of shifts flexible) Job ref 246-GYW8317488

Site HMP Norwich Town Norwich Salary £39,959 - £48,117 gross per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 19/10/2026 23:59

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.

Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for you to join us to work at Norwich Prison in the multidisciplinary team mental health. A very warm welcome awaits you!

If you want a role where you can develop your existing skills and learn something new every day in an environment that never stands still, then this is definitely the job for you.

Prisons are one of the most challenging yet extremely rewarding places for healthcare professionals to work.

The environment and patient group will bring exciting challenges and rewards for the right individual.

The mental health team is part of the Integrated Mental Health and Justice Pathway. This role works as part of the Secure & Forensic Services Care Group which for the past 4 years have received a rating of ‘GOOD’ from the CQC

Main duties of the job

Duties will include, but not exclusive to:

• Assessments of individuals
• Caseload management
• Multi-agency working; including prison services , liaison and diversion services, through the gate services and community services, to ensure that the patient receives appropriate support through each stage of the criminal justice pathway and beyond back into the community.
• Supporting the duty role within the Team

Working for our organisation

Benefits included with this role are: -

• Comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• Starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days Per annum based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• NHS discounts and many more

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly, and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.

NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety of definitions of CPD across the professions, but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.

CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with the commitment of the necessary time and resources.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Complete Mental health assessments of service users within custody to assess their needs and create plans with them for support.
• It is essential that you are skilled in undertaking mental health assessments.
• Co-production with service users in creating their next steps to support rehabilitation including referrals to a wide range of partner agencies both within the prison environment and in the wider community for pre-release planning.
• Work collaboratively with prison colleagues, promoting partnership working.
• Able to work independently on own initiative to meet the needs of service users.
• Ensure service users’ information and assessed needs are accurately reflected in health record documentation.

Person specification

Experience

• Familiar with undertaking clinical assessments including risk assessments.
• Experience of working with challenging clients
• Experience of completing mental health assessments
• Previous experience of working in the prison, secure environment or criminal justice pathway community

Other

• Ability to travel independently.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post may be subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

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.