Community Mental Health Practitioner

Older Persons Community Mental Health team have an exciting opportunity for a Band 6 Community Mental Health Practitioner to cover a 12 month period of Maternity Leave.

The Community Mental Health team provides recovery focused treatment plans for those people who are 65 and over with severe mental illness or who have organic mental ill health including Alzheimer's disease.

You will manage a caseload of patients with a mixture of functional and organic disorders and provide a comprehensive, accessible and responsive mental health service to patients and their families. You will be a committed, dynamic, motivated professional with excellent communication, organisational skills and the ability to prioritise your work. You will have the support and opportunity to develop your own skills and we offer a structured management supervision and a very supportive team environment.

This role is a part-time position working 9 to 5 on 3 days in a pattern in the week to include Friday's. You will be based at The Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne and will need to have a valid driving licence and use of a car to travel to assess and monitor patients in their own homes and within other community or inpatient settings.

You will have recent experience of working in a mental health environment and be able to apply the philosophies of engagement and recovery in your work with service users and have an awareness of the Mental Health Act. As a Community Mental Health Practitioner, you will contribute to effective multi-disciplinary working within the community mental health service and build up effective liaison with community, primary, and other secondary and tertiary services/agencies within the locality to provide holistic care based on the individual's need and service development.

You will communicate effectively in verbal and written form in the exchange of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in difficult situations using de-escalation, mediation, resolution and professional Duty of Candour.

You will evaluate care, taking appropriate action leading to improvement in quality standards through clinical audit.

For further details or to arrange an informal visit please contact or call

At Dorset HealthCare we're on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined-up healthcare services. We're a dynamic, forward-looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost 800,000 people.

We do things differently here – it's one of the reasons the CQC rated us 'outstanding' in 2019. It's also why 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference. Whether you're looking to work with us in one of our bustling market towns, vibrant urban locations, thriving seaside spots, or among the rolling hills of Dorset, there are lots of ways you can make a difference in our communities.

Our 7,000-strong workforce is at the heart of what we do and our success is a testament to our brilliant people. We're all about building a workplace for the future, we believe in equal opportunities and we celebrate diversity. We're an inclusive workplace, where everyone is welcome, everyone can be authentic, and we are all encouraged to be the best version of ourselves.

Working with us you'll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don't know. And you'll be working towards our vision to create healthier lives, empowered citizens and thriving communities.

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

We understand that using AI can be a useful and supportive tool when completing your application. However, we have also seen an increase in the over-reliance of AI tools which is negatively impacting applications as they remove candidate's individuality, and it becomes much harder to get a sense of who you are and your authentic experience. If you do use AI, it should be used to enhance your application and not to create your supporting statement in its entirety. If we suspect you have used AI to create your supporting statement and this does not match your experience, we may withdraw your application.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact

This is a fixed term role and for those with current NHS service, the role will be offered on a secondment basis only. Please obtain permission to be released on a secondment before submitting an application.

Applications from candidates that require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are unfortunately ineligible to apply for this position.