First Responder; Mental Health Practitioner | Cambridgeshire and NHS Foundation Trust

*** Previous applicants need not apply***

Hi, I’m Hayley, the Team Leader for the First Response Service (FRS). I initially joined the team as a First Responder, having trained as a mental health nurse. My passion for supporting individuals in mental health crises and helping them access essential care and support led me to FRS. We benefit from a fantastic and experienced multidisciplinary team, providing opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

This is an exciting opportunity for a full‑time Mental Health First Responder within our First Response Service. We provide 24‑hour access to mental health services for individuals of all ages experiencing a mental health crisis. Our shift patterns are 08:00‑20:00, 11:00‑23:00, and 20:00‑08:00, ensuring round‑the‑clock support.

• Conduct telephone triage and community face‑to‑face assessments for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Provide brief clinical risk assessments, mental health formulations, and develop short‑term contingency plans for callers using 111 option 2 or referrals from other professionals.
• Work closely with other mental health services, police, ambulance services, and local authorities.
• Implement brief solution‑focused interventions to empower patients, carers, and families in problem‑solving and decision‑making.
• Collaboratively develop safe and appropriate care plans, utilising strong communication and assessment skills.
• Maintain a good understanding of the resources offered by other external agencies to offer people the support they require for their personal and specific needs.
• Provide evidence‑based clinical interventions, making autonomous clinical decisions about own professional practice.
• Assume responsibility for the development, planning and implementation of brief care and treatment interventions for individual patients within First Response.
• Provide assessment, planning and implementation of individual packages of care and treatment.
• Ensure that individual episodes of care are delivered in a timely, effective and integrated manner.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high‑quality care with compassion to improve health and wellbeing. Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

We are an equal opportunities employer, encouraging applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including people with long‑term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications. Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at

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