Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Mental Health Practitioner
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Mental Health Practitioner
Mental Health Practitioner
We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Mental Health Practitioner to join our team at HMP Rochester and HMP Cookham Wood. This role provides a unique chance to gain valuable experience working in a prison environment.
About the Role
As a Mental Health Practitioner, you will provide specialist mental healthcare to offenders and work as part of the Mental Health In-Reach Team, alongside wider mental health services. The role involves delivering psychologically mindful interventions to help offenders achieve their agreed goals and health outcomes.
Our Mental Health Team offers specialist interventions spanning primary and secondary care. These include:
- Referral management
- Screening assessments
- Triage
- Evidence-based interventions
- Care planning and risk assessment
- Facilitation of one-to-one and group sessions
For offenders dealing with complex challenges, including learning disabilities or mental health conditions, you will:
- Ensure robust assessment, screening, and intervention strategies
- Contribute to alternatives for inpatient admissions
- Support early discharges through high-intensity interventions
- Collaborate on complex case management
Key Responsibilities
The role requires the provision of specialist mental healthcare to service users and active participation within the Mental Health In-Reach Team and the broader multis disciplinary team (MDT). Responsibilities also include:
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- Managing a mixed and challenging caseload
- Providing a range of interventions across primary and secondary care
- Facilitating referral management, screening assessments, triage, and evidence-based approaches
- Conducting care planning and risk assessment
- Facilitating one-to-one and group sessions
Location & Collaborations
- Based at HMP Rochester and HMP Cookham Wood, with rotations depending on service requirements
- Collaboration required with colleagues at other Kent prisons, including HMP Maidstone and HMP East Sutton Park, with occasional cross-site covering
About Our Organisation
Oxleas provides NHS healthcare services across prison and community environments across Kent, South London, Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire. As the largest NHS provider of prison health services in these areas, Oxleas adapts healthcare to fit the unique needs of each prison—including:
- HMP Swaleside (Cat B – Population: 1,112)
- HMP Elmley (Cat B/C – Population: 1,252)
- HMP Stanford Hill (Cat D – Population: 450)
- HMP Maidstone (Cat C – Population: 600)
- HMP Rochester (Cat C – Population: 760)
- HMP East Sutton Park (Cat D – Population: 90)
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In addition, Oxleas provides broader healthcare services such as:
- District nursing
- Speech and language therapy
- Care for people with learning disabilities
- Mental health services, including psychiatry, nursing, and therapies
Our 4,300+ employees deliver care across 125+ sites across the South of England, spanning hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools, and homes.
Our Values & Purpose
"Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:"
- We’re Kind
- We’re Fair
- We Listen
- We Care
Additional Importance Information
This role does not have a certificate of sponsorship—this is essential for international applications.
Previous applicants need not apply.
For more information, or to arrange an informal visit, contact:
- Clare Denny
- Job Title: Recruitment & Retention Resourcing Officer
- Email: claredenny@nhs.net
- Phone: 07504877653
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