Mental Health Practitioner
Closing date: 03 August 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 6
Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year

Job summary
Are you looking for a meaningful new challenge in mental health care? We are looking for a passionate and forward-thinking Registered Nurse or Occupational Therapist to join our innovative team and help us shape the future of mental health services.

As a Registered Mental Health Practitioner, you will

• Assess, plan, and deliver care using the Open Dialogue approach. This involves working with individuals and their family or social networks to co-produce care through network meetings, ensuring shared decision-making.
• You will contribute to the development and implementation of Open Dialogue across the Trust, supporting research, training, and service transformation aligned with the Community Mental Health Framework.
• You will also support colleagues, supervise staff and students, and promote a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

The role includes clinical leadership responsibilities as Lead Health Care Professional, maintaining accurate records, coordinating care, and ensuring compliance with governance, safeguarding, and Care Act 2014 requirements.

If you are seeking a new challenge and are interested in becoming part of this forward-thinking and innovative Trust, then we want to talk to you.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
• The post will cover Kent and Medway and out-of-area Kent and Medway patients; it is essential that you are able to travel between bases in a timely manner.
• To deliver person-centred mental health care using the Open Dialogue model with service users and their social networks, with service users who would normally receive treatment from Home Treatment Teams (HTT) and Mental Health Together+ (MHT+)
• The postholder will contribute to service development, support organisational transformation, and ensure safe, effective, and compliant practice

The role focuses on collaborative, network-based care that promotes recovery, inclusion, and wellbeing.

About us
We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway and are rated 'Good' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.

Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.

Our vision is simple: we are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. Everything we do is guided by our values: caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's working well together.

Job responsibilities

• Work flexibly across different settings in response to service needs
• Manage competing demands while ensuring safe and effective care delivery
• Promote a safe, secure, and confidential working environment
• Support health promotion, self-care, and involvement of carers where appropriate

If your application is successful, you will be notified by email and advised to check your Trac/ NHS Jobs account. Therefore, please ensure that you regularly check both your email and your Trac/NHS Jobs account.

Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification

Person Specification
Training, Qualifications and registration
Essential

• A degree or equivalent qualification/experience at post registration level
• Further training relevant to role
• Register or equivalent and membership of a professional body.

Desirable

• Training in Autism

Experience
Essential

• Ability to travel across a wide geographical area in a timely and flexible manner in accordance with the needs of the job
• Experience of mental health care within the criminal justice system and/or forensic mental health
• Extensive clinical experience including both individual and group work

Desirable

• Experience of working in an autism setting
• Experience working in an inpatient and community setting
• Experience of Multi- -disciplinary and multiagency working.

Knowledge and Skills
Essential

• Experience of liaison with a variety of stakeholders both internal and external to the Trust.
• A demonstrable understanding of the Mental Health Act
• Understanding and expertise in the principles of risk assessment and risk management
• Ability to respond efficiently to complex information within tight deadlines and prioritise accordingly.

Desirable

• Good IT skill, Computer literate
• An ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing

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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Clinical Team Manager
Heather Jeays
heather.jeays@nhs.net
01227812044

Employer address
Laurel House, 41 Old Dover Rd, Canterbury, CT13HH, United Kingdom

Please note: This job description is a general overview; refer to the attached document for full details.