Job overview

Are you a dedicated, compassionate mental health professional committed to providing great care? Do you want the chance to help shape a new and genuinely innovative service for the women of Kent and Medway?

We're creating Kent and Medway’s first, and only, NHS Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for women, and are seeking a talented Sensory Integration Practitioner, to help us deliver this vital service.

Please note that the start date for this post will be March 2026, to allow for sufficient time for onboarding, induction, and training before the anticipated arrival of the first patient in April 2026.

This is a pioneering role, offering a unique opportunity to lead the development of sensory practice in a highly specialist setting. We’re seeking a compassionate and forward-thinking professional who understands how sensory processing differences, whether related to neurodiversity, trauma, or mental health, can impact function, communication, and engagement with treatment.

If this sounds like the opportunity you have been waiting for, come and join our diverse and compassionate team committed to delivering excellent care and support for service users and their loved ones.

This role comes with a High Cost Area Supplement: 5% of basic salary, subject to a min. of £1303 per year and a max. of £2198 per year (divided into 12 equal amounts and paid monthly). The salary listed is inclusive of the High-Cost Area Allowance. 

Main duties of the job

• Use advanced clinical assessment skills carry out and coordinate comprehensive, systematic holistic assessments which take account of relevant mental, physical, social, cultural, psychological, spiritual, and environmental factors, in partnership with patients and others through interaction, observation and measurement.
• Work collaboratively with other disciplines, patients and their carers to formulate and agree a holistic person-centred intervention plan that addresses the needs identified through assessment.
• Provide a strong presence, leadership and access to expertise across the clinical area with a significant contribution to direct care.
• Proactively develop, deliver and evaluate safe, person centred care in partnership with the service user and their carers to support recovery.
• Act as a clinical leader supporting the development of best practice in line with trust policy and NICE guidance.
• Facilitate and review approved Quality Improvement initiatives within directorates
• Use highly developed communication skills to enable the maintenance of high-quality service within a complex and challenging environment.
• Promote and deliver evidence-based care for patients. 

Working for our organisation

Working in a PICU is very rewarding but we want to be honest and share that it is demanding too. It is likely to be needed by people with severe and complex mental health conditions (e.g. Schizophrenia and  Bipolar Disorder and may be associated with Personality Disorder, Substance Misuse and PTSD). 

While emotionally challenging, the opportunity to support critically unwell women back to their communities, ensuring 'right care, in the right place, at the right time', is immense, and your skilled, multidisciplinary, team will be there to support you. 

You would be working as part of a team of mental health experts, dedicated to making sure the most unwell women in our communities have the same access to specialist care as men. 

We are recruiting now to make sure our new female PICU team is in place with enough time to train, form team bonds and prepare. So you can all make a profound difference to patient outcomes from day one.  

We also offer ongoing professional development to help you adapt and progress your career, including bespoke training and a comprehensive induction program.  

All jobs based at our Dartford unit come with a High Cost Area Supplement: 5% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £1303 per year and a maximum payment of £2198 per year (the agreed annual amount will be divided into 12 equal amounts and paid monthly). The salary listed is inclusive of the High-Cost Area Allowance.