Mental Health Practitioner

Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 23 December 2025

Currently based at Maiden Castle Road, Dorchester but moving to Weymouth in early 2026, The Retreat West offers an open access service for people in crisis and distress. The purpose is to provide a space for people to be listened to, to connect with others and access peer support and brief interventions.

We are seeking compassionate, experienced registered mental health professionals to join our Retreat West team as we relocate the service to Weymouth. The partnership between lived and clinical experience is fundamental to the ethos and values of the Retreats, where registered practitioners and peer specialists work together to offer an open access crisis mental health service every evening; providing a welcoming, safe space for people to come and receive support, without referral or judgement.

This is a diverse role, providing mental health crisis support to visitors and carers, including clinical assessments, brief therapeutic interventions, advice and sign posting.

We are committed to professional development and support, offering internal and external training/education programmes and supervision.

Full time and part time hours are available (minimum 15 hours or 2 shifts per week). The service operates 365 days a year, and while all reasonable flexible working requests will be considered, shift times are set at 16:00-midnight, in line with the service opening hours.

Main duties of the job

You will use your professional judgement to identify those attending the Retreat who may need further clinical input, risk assessment, and treatment beyond what the Retreat can offer. You will support the person to access other services and liaise with them.

You will work with people in significant emotional distress to support them to access their own resources to keep themselves safe.

You will work alongside peer specialists in a socially inclusive way in line with the principles of the Retreat.

Applicants who subscribe to the DBS update service are able to present a valid DBS certificate instead of requiring a new check.

Employment in this post requires an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which the Trust will cover the cost of.

If you are interested in moving to Dorset, we also offer a generous relocation package of up to £5,000. For further details on relocation expenses please email

About us

At Dorset HealthCare we are on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined up healthcare services. We are a dynamic, forward looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost 800,000 people.

We do things differently here - it is one of the reasons the CQC rated us "outstanding" in 2019. 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference.

Working with us you'll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don't know. You will be working towards our vision to be better every day through excellence, compassion and expertise in all we do.

Job responsibilities

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contact

Professional Qualification

• A professional qualification at degree level or equivalent in either mental health nursing, occupational therapy or social work
• Hold current registration with pertinent body
• Evidence of post registration training and development
• Further evidence of professional development and training
• Training in Motivational Interviewing, Brief Solution Therapy, Trauma informed approaches, dialogical approaches and/or self harm and suicide prevention

Skills/Experience/Knowledge

• Experience at Band 5 or equivalent
• Experience of receiving clinical supervision
• Knowledge and experience of modern mental health services; social inclusion, recovery, peer support, carer support
• Ability to work autonomously, with the ability to organise and manage own time according to delegated workload.
• Experience of working in crisis services
• Experience of working alongside intentional use of lived experience
• Significant experience at Band 5 or equivalent in a community setting

Personal Qualities

• Ability to work in a compassionate and empathetic way to people experiencing and expressing emotionally distressing thoughts and behaviour
• Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing situations
• Collaborative approach to client care

Additional

• Ability to use IT systems to undertake practitioner duties
• Demonstrable skills in written and spoken English, adequate to enable the post holder to carry out the role effectively

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.

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust

£38,682 to £46,580 a year p.a. / pro rata for part time