Specialist Mental Health Practitioner

Job overview

The Locality Primary Care Mental Health Specialist will be linked to a locality community mental health team, whilst providing a peripatetic specialist mental health clinical role within defined GP practices to support service users with complex mental health issues as part of  Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service.

The post holder will provide access to specialist mental health assessment, risk assessment, and brief intervention to prevent deterioration in mental health requiring a referral to secondary mental health services.

The post holder will also provide access to triage, assessment and decision support for primary care colleagues to ensure that service users with complex mental health needs access the correct pathway and intervention to meet their needs.

This will build upon Leeds vision for the development of a mental health framework for care in Leeds wrapping specialist mental health clinical knowledge and skills into primary and community settings.

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting opportunity for a Mental Health Specialist to work within a fast-paced service, collaborating closely with GP colleagues and partner organisations across the voluntary sector and secondary care to support individuals aged 17 and over who present with unmet mental health needs.

The position offers hybrid working across GP surgeries, CMHT, community spaces and working from home.

This includes delivering face‑to‑face clinics within GP practices.

The successful candidate will be based in either South, East or West Leeds, depending on service need at the time of appointment.

There may also be occasions where citywide working is required to support safe service delivery, and the base location may change in line with operational needs.

Clinical duties.

Conduct comprehensive mental health assessments, including:

• Risk assessment (self-harm, suicide, safeguarding)
• Mental state examination
• Psychosocial assessment
• Develop and implement care plans with service users.

• Signpost or refer patients to:
• NHS Talking Therapies
• Community services
• Crisis teams
• Social prescribing
• Voluntary sector organisations
• Liaise regularly with GPs, psychiatrists, social workers, and multidisciplinary teams

• Deliver brief psychological interventions and psychoeducation
• Act as a link between primary care and secondary mental health services.
• Triage referrals from GPs and other professionals.

Please refer to Job Description for full details.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We recruit people based on their values and qualifications (where required) and believe that their lived experience is an advantage, this means that together we are as diverse as the communities we care for. Simply put, when we employ caring people who act with integrity and have the right skills, we can give those with mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodiversity high-quality care and support to live fulfilling lives, and make our staff feel purposeful, happy and valued.

All our information is available in accessible formats. Please contact the Recruitment team [email protected]

Attached to this advert is our candidates guide to values-based recruitment and supporting guidance on how to make a successful application.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team or see the attached candidate guide to reasonable adjustments.

To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading.

So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the Candidate Guide to Values Based Recruitment. This document provides you with information to help you apply.