Senior Assertive Outreach Practitioner

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 7 Team Lead to join our newly established Assertive Outreach Team (AOT) in Hillingdon.

This is a key leadership role within a transformational model of care, designed to support individuals with severe mental illness who are at risk of disengagement and require intensive, proactive community-based support.

This is a high-impact, community-focused role, where you will lead a team delivering care directly to patients in their homes and local communities, ensuring no one is lost to follow-up.

The Assertive Outreach Team (AOT) role is fundamentally a patient-facing position, focused on engaging and managing individuals who are often reluctant to engage with services. Given the nature of this work, requiring proactive outreach, direct contact, and consistent face-to-face intervention, the role is not suitable for remote or hybrid working arrangements.

Main duties of the job

• Provide clinical and operational leadership to a multidisciplinary outreach team
• Ensure delivery of high-intensity, assertive engagement, including home visits and community-based care
• Lead on risk management, safety planning and complex clinical decision-making for a high-risk cohort
• Deliver and embed a model based on:
• Persistent engagement
• No discharge due to non-attendance
• Proactive, flexible contact with patients
• Provide line management, supervision and support to team members
• Oversee team performance, caseloads and quality of care delivery
• Work collaboratively with CMHT/CMHH, Crisis Teams, inpatient services and partner agencies to ensure coordinated care pathways
• Going out to patients
• Maintaining engagement when others disengage
• Providing practical support that prevents crisis
• Not clinic based

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Essential:

• Registered mental health professional (e.g. RMN, OT, Social Worker)
• Experience working with complex mental health needs and high-risk patients
• Experience of clinical leadership, supervision and team management
• Strong skills in risk assessment, care planning and crisis management
• Experience of community-based or outreach working
• Driving licence and access to a vehicle for work

Desirable:

• Experience in assertive outreach, crisis or urgent care services
• Experience of service development or transformation

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.