Perinatal Mental Health Occupational Therapist/Community Practitioner


Location
Beckenham, England
Salary
£45,953 - £54,254 pro rata per annum Incl. of HCAs
Profession
Mental health professionals
Grade
Band 6
Deadline
07 Oct 2026
Contract Type
Secondment: 9 months (Management is willing to consider fixed term contract.)
Posted Date
23 Sep 2026
Medical Protection — the side of locally employed doctors from £83

Job requirements

Essential

10 listed

Requirements the employer expects applicants to meet.

  • Qualifications

    Current registration (NMC / OT / SW)

  • Skills/Abilities

    Able to provide quality care that is responsive to service user’s needs, without close supervision

  • Skills/Abilities

    Skills in clinical assessment/baseline mental health assessment

  • Skills/Abilities

    Skills in risk assessment and risk management and crisis management

  • Skills/Abilities

    Self-aware, self-confident and intrinsically motivated to do a good job and to motivate others

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Community Care coordination experience

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Understanding and ability to use supervision to reflect on skills, attitude and knowledge and develop these by using evidence based practice.

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Significant relevant clinical experience – 2 year minimum working in Mental Health settings.

  • Experience/Knowledge

    An interest in working in Community Perinatal Mental Health Team

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Experience as a preceptor / mentor / supervisor

Desirable

4 listed

Additional qualities the employer would prefer.

  • Skills/Abilities

    Skilled in supervision of others, and in providing critical and constructive feedback.

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Awareness/knowledge of the issues surrounding social inclusion for women with mental health issues during the perinatal period

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Knowledge of how mental health problems impact on their babies/child development

  • Experience/Knowledge

    Experience of working with children and/or families

Job overview

About the role:

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, energetic and clinically confident Community Practitioner / OT to join our Community Perinatal Teams across the Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark teams.

You will have experience of general adult inpatient, Mother and Baby inpatient unit, community mental health services or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). You will also have experience of working with women who suffer from moderate to severe mental illness in the perinatal period.

Main duties of the job

You will be familiar with Perinatal community standards, governance and performance structures and confident in partnership work with other agencies such as Children and Family Social Services, Midwifery and Obstetric teams, CMHTs, Health Visitors and the Voluntary sector.

You will display excellent clinical knowledge and skilled practice in women with mental health disorders in the perinatal period. You will provide consistently skilled judgments in clinical work. You need to have experience of working in a richly diverse inner city Borough and have the understanding of the opportunities challenges that this brings.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To be personally responsible and professionally accountable for a caseload as part of the perinatal community team and support/supervise the work of others as required.
  • Co-ordinating care, communicating with other professionals involved in the care and ensuring regular CPA reviews are held as required. This will include communication with other teams for example Maternity Services, Primary care, CAMHS services, Children’s Social Care
  • Independently carrying out assessment, care planning and care coordination with excellent interpersonal skills, ability to listen to others’ views, respect and value individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds.
  • Leading pre-birth planning meetings when necessary, with community team members, midwives and health visitors and social care to coordinate, in order to provide coordinated, comprehensive and supportive care plans for women and their families in the antenatal and postnatal period.
  • Recognising and addressing concerns about the physical health needs of service users with long term conditions (e.g. diabetes, asthma etc.); escalating these concerns as necessary to senior members of the multi-disciplinary team.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

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Applying for this NHS job

This advert is for Perinatal Mental Health Occupational Therapist/Community Practitioner with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in Beckenham, England. It is listed as a Band 6 Mental health professionals role. The advertised salary is £45,953 - £54,254 pro rata per annum Incl. of HCAs. The contract type is Secondment: 9 months (Management is willing to consider fixed term contract.). The application deadline is 07 Oct 2026.

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