Job Description

Closing Date: Friday 29th May 2026

Job Title: Senior Mental Health Practitioner (12 month FTC)

Reports to: RSI Outreach & Intensive Support Manager

Salary: £49,387 per annum, pro rata

Hours of work: Part Time (30 hours per week)

Fixed Term Contract for 12 months

At St Basils, we are dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect our staff to create an environment and culture that promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion and advocate for anti-discriminatory practices and behaviours.

Purpose of the Role:

• Work as part of the Outreach Navigation service and Young People’s Transition Hub to have a positive impact on rough sleeping numbers, serial exclusion and on the entire homelessness pathway.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation, including Outreach, & Transition Hub staff, and key partners including Forward Thinking Birmingham and Aquarius to address the mental health needs of young people who are rough sleeping, at risk of, or serially excluded.

• Work with vulnerable young people facing complex health and social care needs including drug and alcohol dependency and mental health problems.

• To act as a resource for the young people, St Basils colleagues, wider health community and other agencies on issues relating to health and homelessness

• Empower and equip St Basils colleagues to build their understanding and confidence relating to Mental Health

Key Responsibilities:

As the Senior Mental Health Practitioner, you will:

• Participate in street outreach to engage with young people who may be rough sleeping or at risk of.

• Assess the needs of young people and formulate a plan of care in collaboration with colleagues with a view to delegating to other St Basils colleagues and referring to statutory services and other third sector providers including mental health teams, GPs, primary care nurses.

• Manage a caseload, and act as the young person's advocate by providing information and support, facilitate the young person’s own choices about their care, promoting independence and self-care; as appropriate.

• Adopt a proactive, flexible, and opportunistic approach to promote continuity of care.

• Undertake a comprehensive range of activities and have key delegated responsibilities for defined areas of care.

• Autonomously assess and provide brief crisis interventions and referral to other sources of support, for young people presenting with significant mental health issues.

• Support young people to understand mental health processes and pathways, in order that they can make informed decisions about their consent for relevant assessment and associated interventions, as appropriate.

• Utilise best evidence to undertake a core mental health assessment to Triage, Assess, Formulate, Plan, implement and evaluate care for young people.

• Be responsible for the delivery of targeted interventions and where appropriate specialist interventions.

• Ensure the therapeutic interventions provided are appropriate to meet the specific needs of the young person based on their diagnosis and abilities.

• Ensure that young people on their caseload have up-to-date safety plans in place, completed in collaboration and shared where appropriate.

• Be responsible for assuring young people on their caseload have a personalised plan of care that is collaboratively formulated, with agreed outcomes.

• Ensure that the physical health needs of young people are screened, monitored and appropriately responded to.

• Support and advocate for young people, for example when a specialist placement is required.

• Provide interventions to young people experiencing a wide variety of mental health problems (the interventions provided will be within the practitioner’s sphere of competency and within their major skill set, the practitioner is expected to liaise with colleagues who may be more experienced within a particular field, as and when required).

• Act as a resource for the young people, St Basils colleagues, wider health community and other agencies on issues relating health and homelessness.

• Ensure that a multi professional/agency approach to care is maintained, valuing the interface of role and responsibilities and through multi-disciplinary team working.

• Liaise with general practitioners, other health services (including mental health and drug and alcohol services), housing services including St Basils Youth Hub, and social services to ensure a co-ordination of services for young people.

• Utilise evidence-based practice and National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to support a young person’s mental social and physical wellbeing in a community setting.

• Support young people who use the service with promoting effective change to positively impact individual outcomes.

• Create a positive and motivational environment which allows young people we support to thrive.

• Provide support to the wider RSI team and Transition Hub colleagues to think about the impact of the work on their wellbeing.

QUALIFICATION:

Essential:

• Professional degree or diploma in relevant field, i.e., Nursing, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist, Applied Psychologist or Psychological Therapist.

• Appropriate statutory professional body registration NMC/SWE/HCPC/BACP.

• Must be willing to participate in any relevant training identified to develop skills required to carry out duties.

Desirable:

• Post graduate learning to Masters level or above.

• Specific CPD modules relevant to specialist field.

• Additional therapeutic training in relevant therapy models such as Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Mentalisation Based Therapy or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

• Training, teaching or mentorship qualification or experience to an equivalent level.

ROLE EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• Experience of working with young adults and teenagers who have severe and enduring needs and who may be experiencing a crisis in their mental health.

• Experience of working effectively with young people experiencing a dual diagnosis.

• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team setting.

• Clinical experience including individual and group work.

• Knowledge and application of theoretical models of practice.

• High level understanding of mental health disorders and treatment models.

• Extensive knowledge of the principles of safety planning.

• Understanding of Professional Code of Conduct, revalidation and core skills, and their application in practice.

Desirable:

• Experience of working within a community team.

• Experience of mentorship.

• Working with young people in the following settings/Types of work – Youth Work, Residential or Social Work, Probation, Community Work, Education and Training, Housing.

KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• Detailed knowledge of legislation relevant to Mental health and Specialist practice where appropriate.

• Knowledge of current policy documents and their impact on the primary care services agenda.

• Knowledge of the issues that characterise the provision of health services to those experiencing homelessness.

• Knowledge of local health priorities.

Desirable:

• Housing Legislation, i.e., Housing Act and Homelessness Reduction Act Incl. Rough Sleepers Strategy.

• Knowledge of local support services for young people.