Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 07 April 2026
Pennine Lancashire is seeking a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner at our Initial Response Service, based at The Mount, Accrington.
This is an exciting opportunity, and the successful candidate will be part of an evolving service that has the needs of our service users at its heart. We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic to come and join a forward‑thinking, dynamic and constantly developing team.
Main duties of the job
To provide a fast, responsive service to assess individuals’ needs for access into mental health services.
To undertake Mental Health Assessments including Risk Assessments, providing rapid and holistic assessment, care and sign‑posting of individuals presenting with other urgent risk issues.
To be proficient in referring to other clinicians within the service and/or referring to other services/agencies where necessary.
To provide a “gatekeeping” function as detailed in the Operating Procedure.
To provide managerial support to the team in the absence of the Team Manager.
To organise and deliver a rapid intensive intervention service in order to meet the health and social needs of people experiencing a serious mental health crisis.
To form close working relationships with and provide highly specialised advice and information on mental health issues to a variety of other services/agencies/organisations and carers both within and outside mental health services.
To participate in and contribute to local and National strategies to improve services.
To carry out clinical supervision and appraise and produce development plans with lower grade staff members.
About us
LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under‑represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.
We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.
LSCFT supports flexible working; we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi‑time.
The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.
Person Specification
Education
- Recognised Core Mental Health Professional Qualification (e.g. RMN/Dip SW/OT)
Knowledge
- In-depth knowledge of mental health problems
- In-depth knowledge of issues that impact upon people with mental health problems
- Detailed knowledge of the impact of risk and protective factors that affect people with mental health problems
Experience
- Experience of post‑qualification clinical work with service users experiencing a range of mental health problems
- Experience of delivering evidence‑based interventions in a time‑limited framework
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and, as such, it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
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