About this role
Job summary
The Mental Health Practitioner role within the A2i Team involves providing assessment and short-term intervention (up to six months) for individuals with severe and enduring mental illness. The post holder acts as a lead professional for a defined caseload, ensuring the effective comprehensive assessment, care planning, and risk management tailored to individual needs.
You will deliver recovery-focused, therapeutic interventions in collaboration with service users, promoting choice, independence and personalisation. The role requires working closely with multidisciplinary teams and partner agencies, ensuring coordinated and effective care. You will also organise and lead clinical meetings such as reviews, MDT discussions and case conferences.
Strong communication skills are essential, as you will regularly manage complex and sensitive information with service users, carers and professionals, maintaining accurate and timely clinical records. The role also includes mentoring and supporting junior staff and students, contributing to service development, audit and quality improvement activities.
You will be expected to work autonomously while managing competing demands, demonstrating sound clinical judgement and adherence to professional standards. This is a dynamic and rewarding role, offering the opportunity to make a meaningful difference to patient outcomes while contributing to a high-quality, recovery-oriented mental health service.
Main duties of the job
Provide high-quality, recovery-focused care to individuals with severe and enduring mental illness, acting as lead professional for a defined caseload. Undertake comprehensive assessments, develop and implement care plans, and carry out ongoing risk assessment and management.
Deliver therapeutic interventions tailored to individual needs, promoting empowerment, independence, and service user involvement in care. Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and partner agencies to ensure coordinated, person-centred support.
Organise, lead and contribute to clinical meetings including reviews, MDT discussions and case conferences, ensuring effective communication and shared decision-making. Maintain accurate, timely and high-quality clinical records using electronic systems and ensure compliance with professional and organisational standards.
Manage a varied workload, prioritising effectively while working both autonomously and as part of a team. Provide mentorship and support to junior staff, students and colleagues, contributing to a positive learning environment.
Engage in audit, quality improvement and service development activities, supporting the delivery of safe, effective and evidence-based care. Adhere to safeguarding, risk management and relevant policies to ensure the wellbeing of service users, carers and staff.
About us
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.
Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.
We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.
Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence
Job description Job responsibilities
Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.
We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
*Be qualified to degree level, postgraduate or equivalent *Registered Mental Health Nurse, Social worker or Occupational Therapist At present, the Trust is unable to offer Skilled Worker visa sponsorship for this post. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application.
Experience Essential
*Previous experience of working with users and carers using a recovery approach *Demonstrate understanding and experience of using the Care Programme Approach, risk assessment and management *Ability to use information technology *Experience of mental health service *Implementing Care Programme Approach (CPA) *Knowledge of liaison role between the residential/community teams *Knowledge of working with clients with a severe and enduring mental illness *Experience of working in a multi-agency environment *Proven experience working in mental health services
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Address St.Mary's Community Health Campus (Portsmouth)
Milton Road
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO3 6AD
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://hiowhealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)