Senior Community Practitioner

The closing date is 02 October 2025

Salary: £53,751 to £60,651 a year PA pro rata for staff working part time inc HCAS

Job summary

Are you an experiencedRegistered Mental Health Nurse (RMN),Mental Health Social Worker, orOccupational Therapistlooking 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.

Main duties of the job

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:

  • Conduct comprehensive needs assessments and develop tailored care plans.
  • Provide short-term interventions (up to 12 weeks) to support recovery and wellbeing.
  • Signpost service users to appropriate external services and facilitate safe discharge to primary care where suitable.
  • Supervise and support community practitioners, contributing to their development and ensuring high standards of care.

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.

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.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Evidence of continuing professional development
  • Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Occupational Therapist or Social Worker

Desirable

  • evidence of other advanced education e.g. management qualification

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working in a CMHT
  • Experience of working with and addressing issues of diversity including experience of working within a multicultural framework
  • experience of conducting biopsychosocial assessments and risk assessments
  • experience of working with service users with depression, anxiety and personality difficulties using evidence based interventions – NICE guidelines

Desirable

  • experience of working with primary/secondary care, working with GPs
  • Experience of team management

Knowledge

Essential

  • An understanding of the relationship between primary and secondary care services
  • Knowledge of key legislation and guidelines in relation to statutory mental health responsibilities, including Safeguarding Adults, Young people and children
  • An understanding of the stepped care model of delivery of psychological therapies for depression, anxiety and personality disorder
  • Knowledge and expertise in the management of complex risk and crisis
  • Understanding of KPIs

Desirable

  • Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment
  • Knowledge of Datix and how to complete Fact Finder reports

Skills and ability

Essential

  • Highly developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, highly technical and sensitive information to clients, families and colleagues
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate and to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive and/or challenging behaviour

Desirable

  • Transferable skills and knowledge relevant to work with working age adults with severe and enduring disorders in secondary care
  • Highly developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, highly technical and sensitive information to clients, families and colleagues

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is 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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).