Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Practitioner

The closing date is 15 December 2025

Job summary

The Arun Neighbourhood Mental Health Team is transforming. An exciting opportunity to join a community mental health team supporting people living with a severe and enduring mental illness as a Mental Health Liaison Practitioner where your skills can contribute to the development of services.

The Arun Neighbourhood Mental Health Team is growing to focus on local provision and need. The of the MHLP will focus on liaison between the Primary and Secondary care services, as well as GP Surgeries.

We are looking for an experienced and Qualified Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner (Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist and Social Worker) to work within GP Surgeries to provide 6-10 sessions of psychologically informed interventions to people with moderate mental health problems. The successful applicant will also be responsible for completing initial assessments and liaising with local partnerships within the neighbourhood, such as GP's, IAPT services, local agencies and third sector services.

This post offers the Trust's £2,000 Golden Hello or Relocation Incentive for Band 6 Nurses & Practitioners, (pro rata and subject to terms and conditions; please see attached Protocol Document for full details).

Main duties of the job

Working as an MHLP includes:

Working autonomously to a defined caseload of clients diagnosed with mild to moderate mental health problems. This will include offering specific interventions such as psycho-education, CBT informed sessions and short term recovery focused interventions
You will complete initial assessments and work closely with our referrals coordinators, GP's and other agencies.
Your interventions will be a pre-defined offer of 6-10 sessions.
You are welcome to co-facilitate groups if you have an interest in this area.

About us

What you will receive from us:

We are a friendly and supportive team that meets regularly to ensure you feel safe and supported.
We offer several MDT meetings per week to ensure support is available for complex case discussions.
You will receive regular managerial supervision and be offered the opportunity to supervise junior staff.
You will also have access to regular clinical supervision and support from our Community Leads
We actively encourage people to think about their development and career goals, and will support you to complete further training

Date posted

01 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year pa

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

354-AC-21230

Job locations

Pepperville House

Fort Road

Littlehampton

BN17 7QZ

Job description

Job responsibilities

To work as part of the secondary care mental health service, acting as a link clinician to primary care teams. Clinical work will be carried out within primary care settings.

To work with GPs and primary care teams, specifically colleagues in IAPT (West Sussex Talking Therapies), providing support, advice, consultation and shared care for adults, regardless of age and diagnosis, presenting with a functional mental illness, to enable safe management of clients within primary care.

To work in partnership with GPs and other primary care colleagues around individual patients and to work jointly with them to develop care plans for the client.

To assess individuals with complex presentations, prior to referral to secondary care and if required, directing them into the appropriate specialist service within secondary care ensuring they are not passedbetween services.

To maintain a close working relationship with local secondary care teams, keeping them informed of developments within primary care.

To build up professional relationships within Primary Care to allow effective development of care pathways within localities.

To work closely with secondary care colleagues, using their expertise where necessary, to ensure an appropriate response, particularly, but not exclusively from medical colleagues.

To ensure and keep updated a comprehensive knowledge of local resources and services available and how to access these and provide this information to practices and specialist teams as requested.

To provide comprehensive and accurate information on the role of the Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Practitioner, local resources and services to GPs, primary care teams, secondary care teams,service users and third sector agencies.

To work to early intervention principles and provide assessments for service users with more complex presentations identified in consultation with GPs.

To organise, provide and coordinate formal and informal training to GPs and primary care teams on topics relating to mental health as agreed with GPs and PBCs, in order to further enhance the skills of the staff in the diagnosis and management of mental health disorders.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To work as part of the secondary care mental health service, acting as a link clinician to primary care teams. Clinical work will be carried out within primary care settings.

To work in partnership with GPs and other primary care colleagues around individual patients and to work jointly with them to develop care plans for the client.

To maintain a close working relationship with local secondary care teams, keeping them informed of developments within primary care.

To build up professional relationships within Primary Care to allow effective development of care pathways within localities.

To work closely with secondary care colleagues, using their expertise where necessary, to ensure an appropriate response, particularly, but not exclusively from medical colleagues.

To ensure and keep updated a comprehensive knowledge of local resources and services available and how to access these and provide this information to practices and specialist teams as requested.

To work to early intervention principles and provide assessments for service users with more complex presentations identified in consultation with GPs.

Person Specification

ESSENTIAL

Essential

Registered Mental Health qualification or equivalent
Up to date Registration
Post Basic Courses / relevant Study Days
Evidence of CPD

Experience

Essential

post-qualifying experience of clinical work with people with a range of mental health problems
Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non- statutory teams and agencies
Experience of successfully managing a caseload and prioritising clinical work
Experience of providing a range of clinical interventions to people with a variety of mental health problems.
Experience of working consultatively with professionals
Experienced in conducting clinical assessments, including risk assessments.

Person Specification

ESSENTIAL

Essential

Registered Mental Health qualification or equivalent
Up to date Registration
Post Basic Courses / relevant Study Days
Evidence of CPD

Experience

Essential

post-qualifying experience of clinical work with people with a range of mental health problems
Experience of partnership working within and across various different statutory and non- statutory teams and agencies
Experience of successfully managing a caseload and prioritising clinical work
Experience of providing a range of clinical interventions to people with a variety of mental health problems.
Experience of working consultatively with professionals
Experienced in conducting clinical assessments, including risk assessments.

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).