Mental Health Duty Practitioner
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £39,959 to £48,117 a year |
| Hours: | Full-time |
| Location: | Hanley, ST1 2BX |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Posting date: | 7 Oct 2026 |
| Closing date: | 21 Oct 2026 |
Summary
Working as part of the Duty Team you will be responsible for providing advice and support to our staff (CBT Therapists/Counsellors, DIT, IPT, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) and our administrative team) about all aspects of clinical risk, supporting robust risk management and safeguarding processes across the service. The Duty Mental Health Practitioner will have substantial client contact by telephone, often talking with people who may be distressed, to help screen client suitability for the service and make referrals where appropriate into secondary mental health services. There may be some additional responsibilities in supporting interface discussions between Talking Therapies Services and Secondary Care mental health services. We welcome applicants who have experience of and confidence in managing risk. A working knowledge of primary and secondary mental health care services would be an advantage. Deliver effective caseload management and provide feedback on performance to the senior management team, whilst also managing own caseload within the duty team. Responsibility for the management of the duty /triage activity including issues relating to referrals, allocation, activity levels, and clinical risk. This will include receiving highly complex, sensitive or contentious information, and taking referrals over the telephone. Triage may involve experiencing hostility, antagonistic, or highly emotive information, alongside eliciting and providing information that can be sensitive in nature. It will also include communication of information relating to risk and treatment to other professionals, sometimes through interpreters or advocates, including behaviour, state of mind, and where there is a need for empathy and reassurance to gain agreement from the client to proceed with the most appropriate care pathway/care package given the presentation. Facilitate the triage of clients presenting with multiple or complex issues, including consideration of allocation to assessment for the appropriate therapeutic treatment, and decisions regarding onward referral to specialist services. This will include communicating sensitive information where clients may be hostile. The development of close working relationships with other clinical teams to support appropriate clinical pathways and onward referrals based on complexity and clinical need is crucial. Translate the national NHS Talking Therapies agenda into practice by ensuring that recommendations from national policy and guidance are communicated and understood and implemented across the team. See attached JD for full details