Job summary
- Main area
- Senior Mental Health Practitioner
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 310-ASMH-7339388
- Employer
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Fulbourn Hospital
- Town
- Cambridge
- Salary
- £38,682 - £46,580 per annum pro rota
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 26/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Mental Health Practitioner
Band 6
Job overview
We are the South Cambridge Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team (CRHTT), providing 24/7 care for service users experiencing an acute mental health crisis, to support them to stay in their own home rather than being admitted to hospital. We are based in Cambridge, Essex and Hertfordshire.
We are looking for Senior Mental Health Practitioners to join our team. Whether you are a Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker we have an opportunity for you in our team. We are a true MDT and no profession’s voice is louder than another’s.
These roles provide fantastic learning and development opportunities. You will gain experience working with service users with a wide range of presentations and diagnoses. Additionally, you’ll develop your risk assessment skills, crisis management, assessment skills and delivery of brief psychological interventions.
You will have the opportunity to work with a wide range of clinicians who will support you to develop your skills and understanding of mental illness. We are eager for our staff to develop professionally and have previously supported people to do their non-medical prescribing training, AMHP training and to train in psychological therapies.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, you will be working within our multidisciplinary team to contribute to our provision of dynamic solution focussed care. In the Crisis Team we value the different perspectives brought by each of our colleagues. We work with service users experiencing an acute episode of mental illness, so it is vital that we work collaboratively to co-develop a plan to support our service users and their families.
You will be visiting service users in their own home to complete assessments. You will work with the MDT to plan and deliver interventions and work with other supporting services where appropriate.
Another significant part of the role is the management of the inpatient beds. We work on a rota to support the management of the inpatient beds. This is a critical role to ensure that the bed flow is supported and pro-actively managed and requires problem solving and decision-making skills.
Other benefits from joining us are:
- Annual leave allowance 27 days plus bank holidays (depending on NHS service)
- Pension scheme
- Full-time/Part-time or job share opportunities
- Salary sacrifice scheme
- Staff discount scheme
- Professional leadership programs for experienced nurses through NHS Academy
- Stress awareness training
- Mindfulness training
- Counselling service
Working for our organisation
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.
**Please note we reserve the right to close a post should it receive a sufficient amount of applications.**
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.
Screen referrals to the service and prioritise referrals effectively and safely
Provide holistic psychosocial assessment, and subsequent planning and implementation of individual packages of care and treatment.
Undertake clinical risk assessments, based on latest empirical evidence and compliant with local policies and procedures.
Undertake risk management; practising safely and according to individual service user needs.
Provide evidence based clinical interventions, making autonomous clinical decisions about own professional practice.
Responsibility for the development, planning and implementation of brief care and treatment interventions for individual patients.
Ensure that individual episodes of care are delivered in a timely, effective and integrated manner.
Promote a recovery model that empowers patients, carers and relatives to be at the forefront of decision making and ownership of their packages of care and treatment.
Act as the patients and relatives advocate.
Enable patients and carers to manage disability, loss and change.
To provide support, information and education to family members, carers and other professionals
To liaise effectively with referrers and professionals within CPFT, promoting good working relationships and continuity of clinical care
To supervise junior staff as required
To act as a role model and clinically expert practitioner within the service
Participate as an active member of the multi-disciplinary team, accountable for your practice, and work in partnership with other health care professionals, service users and others in the delivery of care.
Champion patients’ rights, including: dignity, equality, diversity, choice and respect.
Be conversant and proactive with Government legislation pertaining to the Mental Health Act, CPA, National Service Framework, NHS Plan and Clinical Governance.
Represent the Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team at meetings.
When undertaking all of the above ensure good documentation is provided and entered within the appropriate systems of record sharing.
Participate in the team’s support and training of students
The post will include flexible working patterns over a 37.5 working hours per week to incorporate cover for 24 hours, 7-day service, including on call if required to meet the needs of the service users & carers.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Mental Health Nurse Qualification or Social Work Qualification or occupational therapy Qualification
- Current NMC/HCPC/Social work Registration
Desirable criteria
- Clinical supervision qualification
- Post Graduate level education in psychological therapy
- Non medical prescribing
- Teaching (clinical practice) qualification/certificate or equivalent experience
Experience
Essential criteria
- Mental health care/treatment relevant to service
- Working with people presenting with acute mental health difficulties
- Multi-agency working/working across service interfaces
- Working within a multicultural framework
Desirable criteria
- Teaching, training and/or supervision of clinical staff
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Assessing, formulating and working with people presenting in heightened state of distress
- Communicating (oral and written) complex/highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Clinical risk assessment and contingency planning
- Able to meet the service needs for mobility across the geographical area covered
- Able to demonstrate commitment to high quality care and service provision
- Effective organisational and time management skills
Desirable criteria
- Brief psychological interventions/strategies for managing crisis
- Evidence of ability to develop and lead new initiatives within the clinical care environment
Knowledge & Understanding
Essential criteria
- Evidenced based clinical interventions relevant to the service
- Relevant specialist clinical courses/training
- Models of care and treatment relevant to working with people in mental health crisis
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable criteria
- RiO and SystmOne PAS
Physical Requirements
Essential criteria
- Ability to travel promptly across a large geographical patch
- Able to cover shifts over a 24 hour period, 7 days a week
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sophie Price
- Job title
- Team Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01223 219593
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