Community Mental Health Practitioner

This position is within the Mental Health Services for Older People (MHSOP) Community Mental Health Team.

The MHSOP service comprises Community Mental Health Teams, a Nursing Home Team, a Psychiatric Liaison Team, Occupational Therapy services, a Memory Clinic, and two inpatient wards providing functional and organic mental health care.

We are looking for a motivated, innovative, and critically minded practitioner to join our dedicated team. This is a rare opportunity, as clinicians who join the MHSOP service often choose to build long-term careers within the team. This reflects our supportive working environment, positive team culture, and shared commitment to delivering excellent care for our local community.

We are committed to providing the highest quality, patient-focused, person-centred care through comprehensive assessment, care planning, and care coordination. You will work autonomously, demonstrating strong clinical assessment skills and the ability to develop and deliver effective, evidence-based care plans that address individual patient needs while proactively assessing and managing risk.

Main duties of the job

As a Community Mental Health Practitioner, you will be responsible for the assessment and management of service users presenting with complex mental health needs within the community.

You will undertake comprehensive assessments of need, providing evidence-based interventions, advice, and support to service users, their families and carers, and other professionals involved in their care.

Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will ensure that high-quality, person-centred care is delivered in line with best practice. You will assess and manage clinical risk, coordinate care, and ensure that appropriate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions are implemented in a timely manner to meet individual needs.

You will contribute to the development, implementation, and regular review of personalised care plans, ensuring that care remains responsive to changing needs. Through ongoing assessment and risk management, you will work collaboratively with service users and partner agencies to support recovery and facilitate safe, effective discharge planning where appropriate.

You will practise in accordance with the Trust's values.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• o Professional Qualification and current Professional Registration as, a First Level Registered Nurse (RNMH, RMN) or equivalent as an AHP, Social Worker or Clinical Psychologist
• o Mentor Training
• o Evidence of post-registration training in clinical/ psychological interventions / skills relevant to the post.
• o Proven track record of post registration clinical experience relevant to the post.
• o Training in Safeguarding, MAPPA (Multi Agency Panel for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults) and Child Protection
• Up-to-date knowledge/experience of relevant legislation.

Desirable

• Post Registration Qualifications in Psychological Interventions
• Experience of working within a community team
• Non-Medical Prescribing

Experience

Essential

• o Previous band 5 qualified nurse experience dependent upon service need or 24 months post-registration as an AHP, Social Worker or psychologist.
• o Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team with patients who have mental health diagnosis.

Desirable

• Experience of working within older adults in a functional / organic mental health pathway
• Experience of working in a community setting
• Experience of working with patients who are experiencing a mental health crisis
• Experience of undertaking audit
• Knowledge of or experience in coaching and mentoring practices and tools

Knowledge of or experience in Quality improvement tools, techniques and methods

Experience of change management process

Experience

Essential

• It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role

About the employer

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.