Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Community Assistant Practitioner - CATAT

The closing date is 23 March 2026

Apply for this job

Job summary

CATAT who after our first year of being live (2023) was highly recommended for the Working Together for Better Mental Health at the staff excellence awards. Are looking for professionals that have a keen interest of working with CYP and their families, wanting to help them achieve better outcomes for their future and strive to keep them in the community.

The aim of our team is to prevent CYP from having inpatient admissions wherever possible, and to support them and their family in the community in a proactive way. The team will serve as a gateway in and out of Tier 4 (T4) provision. CATAT work alongside the core community teams as well as partner agencies to offer CYP increased/additional support. This helps with a jointly holding risk, collaborative working, and continuity of care.

CATAT have 2 main pathways:

Admission Avoidance - Least restrictive option, CYP who are already open to a core team but need a more intensive intervention to support their mental health needs. To prevent things from worsening and/or needing a hospital admission.

In-reach/Outreach - support to young people leaving inpatient settings (T4) to help them adjust back into life in the community.

The team between 2022 - 2025 have avoided over 200 admissions so if you want to help continue to increase these successes then why not apply now and join us!

Main duties of the job

  • Consultation/Advice
  • Enhanced assessments
  • Ensure that children & young people in Norfolk & Suffolk access care in the least restrictive environment possible.
  • Case Formulation
  • Face to face community-based visits
  • Attending MDT, LEAPs, CETRs, MALMs, Linking in with inpatient and acute wards.
  • Therapeutic interventions and approaches in relation to the expressed mental health needs of the CYP. Such as emotional regulation, DBT skills, AMBIT technics, risk management.
  • Systemic approach to working with CYP, families, carers, and wider professional networks.
  • Training and education for other services
  • Promote joined up working and liaison with other involved services and teams across mental and physical health and children's services.

(The above list is not exhaustive, merely a starting point to show you what we do)

About us

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Details

Date posted

16 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year gross per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

246-GYW7841964

Job locations

Carlton Court Dragonfly Unit

St Peter Road, Carlton Coville

Lowestoft

NR33 8AG


Job description

Job responsibilities

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Care certificate or completed within first 12 weeks of start date, or relevant equivalent qualification Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care / Mental Health at L5 Apprenticeship in H&SC / Mental Health L5

Experience

Essential

  • Previous experience of working in an NHS health care setting Understanding the importance of the promotion of health and wellbeing - "Making every Contact Count"

Desirable

  • Community experience
  • Under 18s experience

Skills

Essential

  • Reasonable confidence and competence in using IT systems (e.g. Outlook, Word, clinical or other record systems) relevant to the role.
  • Ability to work effectively as a team player under appropriate supervision and as part of the MD
  • Ability to deal with non-routine and unpredictable nature of the work-load and individual SU contact

Other

Essential

  • Have a full drivers licence and access to a car
  • Willing to drive around Norfolk and Suffolk
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Care certificate or completed within first 12 weeks of start date, or relevant equivalent qualification Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care / Mental Health at L5 Apprenticeship in H&SC / Mental Health L5

Experience

Essential

  • Previous experience of working in an NHS health care setting Understanding the importance of the promotion of health and wellbeing - "Making every Contact Count"

Desirable

  • Community experience
  • Under 18s experience

Skills

Essential

  • Reasonable confidence and competence in using IT systems (e.g. Outlook, Word, clinical or other record systems) relevant to the role.
  • Ability to work effectively as a team player under appropriate supervision and as part of the MD
  • Ability to deal with non-routine and unpredictable nature of the work-load and individual SU contact

Other

Essential

  • Have a full drivers licence and access to a car
  • Willing to drive around Norfolk and Suffolk

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Carlton Court Dragonfly Unit

St Peter Road, Carlton Coville

Lowestoft

NR33 8AG


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Carlton Court Dragonfly Unit

St Peter Road, Carlton Coville

Lowestoft

NR33 8AG


Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Clinical Team Leader/Mental Health Nurse

Chelsea Gamble

chelsea.gamble@nsft.nhs.uk

01502527429

Details

Date posted

16 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year gross per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

246-GYW7841964

Job locations

Carlton Court Dragonfly Unit

St Peter Road, Carlton Coville

Lowestoft

NR33 8AG


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)