Senior Mental Health Practitioner | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in City of London

Are you ready to take the next step in your career and make a real difference in community mental health? We are looking for a dynamic, forward-thinking, and passionate Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join our Lewisham Neighbourhood Team 3. This is more than just a clinical role - it’s a leadership opportunity. You’ll be supporting our community redesign programme, helping to shape and implement innovative care pathways that truly meet the needs of our service users and carers.

From referral management and supervision to caseload planning and step-down support, you’ll play a key role in driving quality and consistency across the team. We’re seeking someone who thrives in a collaborative environment and is excited by the chance to influence service development. You’ll work closely with the Service Manager, Team Leaders, Multi-Professional Team, and Community Matron to ensure our services are responsive, inclusive, and recovery-focused.

This role offers a fantastic platform to grow your operational and quality improvement skills, while also contributing to the professional development of others. If you’re motivated by impact, innovation, and meaningful change we want to hear from you. Come and be part of a team that values your expertise and supports your development.

We are seeking a highly experienced and enthusiastic Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join Lewisham Community Services. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to our community redesign programme, focused on improving access, quality, and continuity of care for individuals with severe and enduring mental health needs. We welcome applications from candidates who are hands-on, solution-focused, and committed to delivering high standards of care. Leadership and clinical expertise will be valued.

This varied role requires a qualified Community Psychiatric Nurse, Occupational Therapist, or Social Worker with experience supporting individuals with complex mental health needs and their carers. You will manage a caseload, provide clinical leadership, and contribute to service development.

Key skills include strong clinical knowledge in mental health and risk management, excellent communication, and the ability to supervise junior staff. You should be confident in handling complex cases, including step-down planning, and actively contribute to pathway redesign and quality improvement.

• Assume responsibility for own case list and case management of patients with mental health disorders who are determined to be at medium/high risk and complex.
• Work in the community settings as required.
• Work with wider MDT and Adult psychiatrists to make a clinical diagnosis and formulation from a standard assessment, including risk assessment, on which to recommend a treatment intervention.
• Design, write and share a copy of the care plan with parents/carers and patients.
• Carry out the planned intervention with minimal supervision.
• Assess safeguarding issues for own cases and refer concerns to the Adult Safeguarding team.
• Deliver evidence based treatment interventions based on NICE guidelines.
• Use individual, group work, advice and supervision according to the needs of patients and have a flexible and innovative approach to packages of care.
• Participate and lead in joint complex assessments with other disciplines and other agencies and provide reports for referrers, families and other agencies as required.
• Maintain good relationships and clear lines of communication with other professional agencies and departments, providing specialist advice and support where appropriate.
• Undertake all duties in line with the professional Codes of Professional Conduct, and maintain professional registration requirements for the post according to discipline/profession.
• Work in accordance and within the principles, policies, procedures and guidelines of all aspects of clinical governance.
• Attend monthly supervision and annual appraisal meetings.
• Make effective use of colleagues in sharing and participating casework supervision and other forms of supervision when required according to local practice, including attending peer supervision meetings if available.
• Identify development and training needs with manager in accordance with Trust/Directorate guidelines.
• Remain up to date with changing practices and wherever possible make full use of all training and educational facilities.
• Join and lead with colleagues in specialist teaching, consultation/support to other professionals and agencies.
• Participate in the provision of a good quality learning environment for trainees, overseeing placements and supervising trainees.
• Participate in the monitoring, evaluation and audit of the service.
• Work with others to undertake and promote research-based practice and use that knowledge in your everyday practice, sharing it with others in the team.