Mental Health Practitioner

We are seeking mental health practitioners with experience of holding caseloads of patients with mental health difficulties, to join us as a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner within one of the East Sussex Emotional Wellbeing Services. You will be a qualified Nurse or Allied Health Professional, with the relevant professional registration (NMC or HCPC).

You will be responsible for providing rapid and responsive assessment, signposting and brief treatment to patients within an East Sussex Primary Care Network.

You will work in a specific PCN as a vital member of the Mental Health Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), working with mental health support coordinators to ensure a holistic, joined up approach for patients and carers.

You will be working with individuals registered with GP practices within the PCN with mild to moderate and stable severe mental health needs. You will hold a caseload of patients, providing supportive and enabling interventions from a broad biopsychosocial and trauma informed perspective. As a member of the PCN MDT you will help improve access for patients to timely, holistic and evidence-based support based on need, improve outcomes and keep people well in their own communities.

The role will be PCN/ community-based, offering assessments, brief treatments and onward signposting advice to patients, supporting GPs and other PCN staff to manage the demand of a range of mental health presentations within the primary care setting.

As we work towards our goal of providing an integrated service across primary and secondary care, our community mental health services are being transformed to recognise the changes in how people want to access them. We are working in close partnership with a range of partners and our 'experts by experience' to develop and improve our service offer.

As part of this exciting transformation, we are expanding our community rehabilitation, personality disorder and eating disorder services, as well as providing investment to our community mental health teams and increasing mental health provision in primary care.

What does this mean for you?

Because we need to recruit a diverse range of people and skillsets to join us, the job (and training & development) opportunities we have on offer are as broad as they are interesting.

This hugely exciting Mental Health Practitioner role will bring together Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT), East Sussex CCG & Southdown, Voluntary & Community Sector provider into an exciting new mental health partnership. You will be employed directly by SPFT but working directly into one of the 10 PCN sites across East Sussex.

Rural Rother/Hastings

The value of this model is that it is closely aligned to the community at a GP practice level, with a partnership approach taken between the PCNs, voluntary sector services and the local NHS provider of mental health services, working with individuals who present with mild to moderate and stable severe mental health needs.

The Emotional Wellbeing Service in the PCNs will remain fluid and flexible to adapt to individual nuances of each of the practices by breaking down traditional boundaries and providing an integrated approach to each patient. Your role will be key in developing these new roles within the PCNs, you will be supported and encouraged to have a voice to improve this transformation, the experience of patients and also your own working experience.

**REQUIREMENTS**:
In order to be a successful Mental Health Practitioner in our team you will be:

- A qualified Nurse or Allied Health Professional, with the relevant professional registration (NMC or HCPC)
- Motivated by developing a newly created role, within a new service provision
- Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non-statutory teams and agencies
- Experienced working within a mental health setting

**It would also be advantageous if you are**:

- Experienced working in a Primary Care setting

Although your employer will be SPFT you will be based within PCN premises.

**East Sussex PCNs**:
The PCNs cover different geographical areas (some of which overlap), are made up of differing numbers of GP surgeries/ Medical Groups and serve population groups of differing sizes between 27,000 and 73,000 people:
Hastings / Rural Rother

See attached Job Description, Person Specification & EWS Job Pack for full details.

Join us and you will be working for a Trust that is continuously developing a working environment and culture which is based on trust, learning, accountability and responsibility, where staff feel empowered to influence and make positive changes to working practices.

We know that a positive work / life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example: home-working, part time hours, flexible start or finish times, or anything else. If it works for you and works fo