Specialist Practitioner Connection
The closing date is 17 May 2026.
We are looking for experienced, professionally registered Mental Health Nurses, Social Workers or Occupational Therapists with a genuine passion for supporting those in mental health crisis. They will complete the recruitment to our Connection team.
Connection is moving forward and this is an exciting time to join us for the next stages of our service development; increasing face‑to‑face community assessment work and working collaboratively with partner agencies to ensure people in mental health crisis receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
Based at St Anns Hospital, Connection is Dorsets 24/7 open access mental health crisis service.
This diverse role includes direct clinical assessments, advice and support, supervising mental health support workers, giving clinical advice to other agencies and emergency services, coordinating urgent responses, and liaising with a range of internal and external services.
We offer a financial recruitment premium: a £3,000 lump sum on commencement and a £1,500 retention premium per year (pro‑rata).
We also provide full and part‑time hours, a 24/7 service with shift patterns including weekends, bank holidays and nights. All reasonable flexible working requests will be considered.
Main duties of the job
* Telephone and face‑to‑face mental health assessments, brief clinical interventions, support, signposting and referrals.
* Validating, de‑escalating crisis and coaching people in distress tolerance and emotional regulation strategies.
* Using a range of brief interventions to empower patients, carers and families to manage distress and crisis effectively.
* Telephone work with opportunities for urgent face‑to‑face assessments across Dorset when indicated.
* Providing clinical information, advice and support to other professionals and emergency services.
* Supporting police and ambulance service in accessing the most appropriate support for those presenting in mental health crisis.
* Working closely with other teams such as Home Treatment, Liaison Psychiatry and the Retreats; overnight, Connection covers Home Treatment Team caseload.
* Supervising and supporting the Mental Health Support Workers within the team, providing guidance and support.
Person Specification
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND TRAINING
* Registered practitioner at degree/diploma level, supplemented by post‑registration diploma‑level specialist training and/or short courses or demonstrable extensive experience in the relevant specialty.
* Membership of the relevant Professional Body.
* Learning and Assessing in Practice Qualification or equivalent practice assessor training.
* Evidence of recent professional development in an up‑to‑date portfolio.
* Non‑Medical Prescriber (if professionally appropriate).
JOB SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE
* Experience working as a practitioner.
* Experience of specialist working.
* Experience of managing change.
* Experience of developing specialist programmes of care for an individual or groups of patients/clients and of providing highly specialist advice.
* Ability to prioritise and organise workload effectively.
* Recent prior experience within a comparable role.
MANAGERIAL / SUPERVISORY
* Experience of providing clinical supervision and mentoring to junior staff.
* Experience of devising and delivering training.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
* Experience of using electronic patient/service user record systems.
* Able to analyse data and produce reports using Microsoft Excel and Word.
PERSONAL QUALITIES/ATTRIBUTES
* Experience of planning and organising complex activities, e.g. organising own time and that of junior staff and learners, planning off‑duty rotas and undertaking discharge planning involving co‑ordination with other agencies.
* Knowledge and understanding of legislation relevant to practice.
* Demonstrable leadership qualities and the ability to perform as a role model.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
* Demonstrable skills in written and spoken English to a standard which enables the post holder to carry out the full range of duties and responsibilities of the role effectively.
DISCHARGE AND BARRING SERVICE CHECK
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Applications from candidates that require current Healthcare worker sponsorship to work in the UK are unfortunately ineligible to apply for this position.
£39,959 to £48,117 a year (pro‑rata for part time).
Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust.
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