Specialist Mental Health Practitioner

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.

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.

• 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.

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

Please refer to Job Description for full details.

The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) is the main provider of Mental Health and Learning Disability services in Leeds. We also provide specialist inpatient services in York and some highly specialised services across the country. As a teaching trust with strong links to local universities, we are a centre of excellence for teaching, research and development.

There are many benefits of working for LYPFT including fantastic employee wellbeing support, 27 - 33 days annual leave, flexible working and remote working arrangements, the NHS Pension Scheme, coaching, support and opportunities for career development and training and education support alongside a range of exclusive discounts and payment schemes including for cars, extra leave days and more NHS Discount Offers.

We also have a bank department, offering variety of roles in nursing, allied health professions, healthcare support worker and administration clerical. Permanent employees are automatically added to bank.

Applicants should be aware that individuals requiring a visa to work in the UK, the Trust only provides sponsorship for registered healthcare practitioner roles (this does not include Healthcare Support Workers) . This is an essential requirement, and the Trust is unable to offer you a role if you do not meet Trust requirements for sponsorship and Home Office requirements for a visa.

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_hidden***

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.