Job overview
This post is open internally to current SLAM Trainee Mental Health Well-being Practitioner’s (MHWP’s) looking to qualify in January 2026. The successful applicant will complete the remainder of their MHWP training within the Croydon Central Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). They will remain on a Band 4 salary until completion of training and accreditation. The long-term offer of employment in this Band 5 role is dependent on the applicant completing their course, achieving registration as a MHWP, and registration with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and/or the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).
Structured Clinical Management (SCM) is an evidence-based treatment for service-users with Severe Mental Health difficulties. The Croydon locality has adopted SCM as the framework for healthcare across the Directorate, embedding it in its operational policies. It is used with the full range of Secondary Care Patients including those with Psychosis Conditions, Mood and Affective Conditions, and Personality Disorder.
We are seeking to employ and support a Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner to take on a role as an SCM Aligned Care Coordinator within the Central CMHT. They will offer assessments and deliver high quality SCM treatment for the Secondary Care group. This will involve both individual case management and low intensity psychological interventions.
Main duties of the job
Croydon Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) have undergone service transformation. The transformation is about enhancing the quality of our service delivery, improving the experiences of those using our services, maintaining staff morale and to ensure services are meeting the NHS Long Term Plan. It is an exciting time to be part of this transformation in Croydon and you will be directly involved in improving ways of working with investment in resources to enhance services. The new teams work cross-diagnostically and will work with all individuals from a locality who have mental health needs that require support from Secondary Care. Croydon CMHT has 3 localities North, Central and South. Our Locality Teams are highly experienced and supportive and Multi-disciplinary.
Working for our organisation
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
The Trust employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
This advert is for Central Community Mental Health Team in Croydon based at Jeanette Wallace House.
The post holder will receive support around the delivery of low intensity psychological interventions under supervision as part of their delivery of the SCM model of care (see Job Description).
Working alongside other members of the multi-disciplinary team, the post holder will work closely with other care coordinators and case managers in identifying any barriers to discharge or in implementing care plans. They will work hand in hand with their colleagues in the team, other community teams in and out of the trust, primary care colleagues and the patients family/carers to facilitate discharge. They will ensure that the estimated discharge date as identified during reviews is progressed where possible and feasible.
The post holder will work a normal shift pattern of Monday- Friday 9:00-17:00.
The post holder will need excellent clinical and risk assessment skills and can work autonomously in carrying out prompt and comprehensive patient assessments whilst ensuring effective transition to other appropriate clinical pathways.
The post holder will work as an experienced mental health professional who acting within their own professional boundaries will provide care for service users that are in their recovery journey from severe and enduring mental health challenges.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. A graduate certificate (Level 6) or postgraduate certificate (Level 7) delivering the national curriculum for Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners (Adult Specialist Mental Health) (A)
2. Registration with the BPS and/or the BABCP (A) post-qualification.
Desirable criteria
3. Any training relevant to the service user group (A/I)
Experience
Essential criteria
4. Experience of working with people with mental health needs gained through a graduate certificate or postgraduate certificate training with significant supervised practice
5. Experience running groups/activities
6. Experience working as part of a team
7. Experience of being supervised
8. Experience of analysing and communicating complex information verbally and in writing
Desirable criteria
9. Lived experience of mental health issues/difficulties
10. Experience of working in the Croydon Locality
Knowledge/Skills
Essential criteria
11. Able to establish and maintain empathic, supportive relationships with people in significant distress or who are cognitively impaired, their families and carers
12. Able to receive, understand and communicate confidential client information of a sensitive and often complex nature, including discussing care with family members within boundaries of confidentiality
13. Able to communicate in a sensitive and reassuring manner, with empathy, and where appropriate reassurance
14. Commitment to team working and ability to work successfully in a team
15. Able to make good use of clinical supervision in a group and/or individual format
Desirable criteria
16. Knowledge of the Croydon Locality
17. Knowledge of the SCM model