Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner
At a glance
- Band
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 27/08/2026
- Closes
- 09/09/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner to join the Community Mental Health Teams in Bishop Auckland and the Dales. The role focuses on working with older people with mental health problems, requiring collaborative work with older adults, their carers, and families. As a registered professional, you will manage your own caseload, providing assessments, care coordination, and interventions in community and care home settings. The position offers development in leadership and clinical skills within a supportive multi-disciplinary team.
Key responsibilities
- Manage your own caseload, providing assessments, care co-ordination and delivering intervention in the community/care homes.
- Work collaboratively with older adults experiencing functional mental health problems, including their Carers and families.
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, specialising in Older Adults.
- Demonstrate excellent assessment skills, interpersonal, and team working skills.
- Work collaboratively with a range of statutory and third sector agencies.
Essential criteria
- Current professional registration with an approved professional body.
- Evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
- For registered nurses: MIP, FLIP, ENB 998 Teaching & Assessing in Clinical Practice or City & Guilds 730 Teaching in Adult Education.
- 18 months post qualifying experience including sign off of appropriate preceptorship or competency framework (at point of application)
- Recognised sign-off mentor, clinical educator or equivalent. Must be achieved within agreed timescale.
- Key skills in literacy, numeracy and ITQ level 2 (or equivalent)
- Significant experience working with people with mental ill health in a care environment.
- Working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers.
- Providing clinical supervision to individuals or groups as professionally appropriate.
- Mentoring or facilitating students on practice placement.
- Demonstrable knowledge to post-graduate level of evidence-based practice in caring for patients in the designated field.
- Understanding of relevant legislation (e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act).
- Care Programme Approach and its application in practice.
- Clinical Risk Assessment and Management and its application in practice.
Desirable criteria
- Leadership or management qualification
- Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area
- For registered nurses: Non-medical prescriber
- Leadership or management experience
- Significant experience working with people with mental ill health in a community environment.
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 6 at £37,338 – £44,962 a year, across England.
This advert: £39,959 – £48,117 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 3d ago · Closes in 11d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner to join our Community Mental Health Teams in Bishop Auckland and the Dales, to work with older people with mental health problems.
This is an exciting opportunity for experienced an practitioner to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, specialising in work with Older Adults. Applications are welcome from those with Nursing or Social Work registrations. As a senior practitioner you will have a genuine interest in collaborative working with older adults experiencing functional mental health problems including their Carers and families.
Candidates must have 18 months post qualifying experience includingsign off of appropriate preceptorship or competency framework at the point of application.
You must have the Right to Work in the UK in order to be successfully appointed to this role. Please note, due to the part time hours the starting salary for this role would not meet the required salary threshold for this post to be eligible for sponsorship under the Health and Care (Skilled Worker) visa. Health and Care Worker visa.
Main duties of the job
As a registered professional this is an ideal opportunity for someone who wants to develop their leadership and clinical skills in a community setting. As a core member of the team, you will also be responsible for your own cas
Join the community to read the full pack, responsibilities and person-specification in one place.
Your seat is reserved — activate it
CareerHive is included with your CareerHive Skool community membership. If you haven't claimed your account yet, join the community (or sign in with the same email you joined with) to unlock the full advert, the apply link, HiveMind AI interview & application suite, your private vault, and daily sponsorship alerts.