Approved mental health professionals - Health and Adult Services opportunities

Are you a social worker, experienced approved mental health professional or a trainee approved mental health professional about to qualify? Then we may have just the role for you.

We have a variety of roles available across our award-winning service recognised by Ofsted as outstanding.

We have roles within our emergency duty teams, in the community and hospitals and our newly formed hybrid role which allows our approved mental health professionals to have an opportunity to work across both day and out of hours services.

We offer a range of flexible working hours and can accommodate a variety of working patterns in line with ensuring service needs are still met.

Interested in becoming an approved mental health professional? We welcome applications from experienced social workers with a wide range of backgrounds including adults and children's services who would be interested in undertaking their approved mental health professional training.

So, get in touch no matter where you are in your career, we have something for everyone, we’d love to hear from you!

Hear from our team

Emma Hartley

North Yorkshire Council invest in their employees to further their education and I was financed to undertake the Approved Mental Health Professional Post Graduate qualification in 2023.

What I enjoy about the approved mental health professional role is that no two days are ever the same, I get to travel and meet with people of all ages and I have to think on my feet whilst remaining calm in stressful situations. Being an approved mental health professional allows me to be an autonomous professional, in a primarily led medical field. I am able to bring a social perspective to ensure that a person’s rights are upheld whilst working within a least restrictive anti oppressive manner led by Mental Health Act legislation.

Emma Hartley
Approved Mental Health Professional, Scarborough, Ryedale, Whitby, Selby and Hambleton Team.

Meshell Heelbeck

“Working as an approved mental health professional isn’t for everyone but I enjoy working in a role in which I do not work at the behest of anyone else. I love working in a truly unique role where I work with a broad age range of people with a broad range of different mental health difficulties where no two days are ever the same. I would say the most satisfying part of my role is being able to prevent hospital admissions by implementing community-based services and promoting recovery outside of restrictive hospital environments. I would have to say that the best thing about my role is the team I work within. There is a true team mentality, everyone is always happy to help when things get busy.”

Meshell Heelbeck,
Approved Mental Health professional, Mental Health Team.

The roles

The current vacancies include:

Approved mental health professional - hybrid working across day and out of hours service

Salary: from £40,221 to £44,428
Grade: L
Contract: permanent

Role summary

Join us as a hybrid working approved mental health professional. This means you have the opportunity to work across both day and out of hours services to complete Mental Health Act assessments across North Yorkshire and York. As part of this role, you will complete Mental Health Act assessments in the community and health based settings working with health colleagues to uphold the least restrictive principal of the Mental Health Act.

Duties and responsibilities

The principle responsibility of emergency duty team is to respond to out of hours requests where professional intervention from the Local Authority is required to make safe until the next working day. This can include safeguarding a vulnerable child or adult completing, Mental Health Act assessments and Care Act assessments. As a qualified social worker, you will have a broad and detailed knowledge of all statutory functions of Social Care and Health Services (including legislation, policy, and procedures). Whilst on duty you will triage and prioritise incoming work ensuring that the appropriate response is made in line with policy and procedure and using your professional judgement. Working with complex situations that require thorough and robust risk assessments, crisis intervention and decision-making. The core focus of this role is to be the single point of contact for the social care service for children, adults, young people, and mental health.

Approved mental health professional (hybrid working) job description (pdf / 319 KB)

Apply online: Approved mental health professional - hybrid working

Approved mental health professional - Scarborough area

Salary: from £40,221 to £44,428
Grade: L
Contract: permanent

Our mental health social care team are looking for an approved mental health professional to join them in the Scarborough Hub.

We are looking for an approved mental health professional who will complete Mental Health Act assessments across the county of North Yorkshire. Your role will be to offer support in the community and hospital, with the focus on working together with service users’ to enhance their independence and quality of life. You will be expected to undertake safeguarding enquiries and investigations, training is available to support you with this. The work can be complex and challenging and you will be supported to manage this with regular supervision, training, and opportunities to consult where necessary senior colleagues. You will hold a small caseload of complex cases in addition to approved mental health professional duties.

Approved mental health professional job description (pdf / 356 KB)

Apply online: Approved mental health professional - Scarborough area

Approved mental health professional - Harrogate and Craven areas

Salary: from £40,221 to £44,428
Grade: L
Contract: permanent
Vacancy hours: full or part time (flexible - variation of working hours can be considered)

Our mental health social care team are looking for an approved mental health professional to join them in the Harrogate and Craven Hub.

We are looking for an approved mental health professional who will complete Mental Health Act assessments across the county of North Yorkshire. Your role will be to offer support in the community and hospital, with the focus on working together with service users’ to enhance their independence and quality of life. You will be expected to undertake safeguarding enquiries and investigations, training is available to support you with this. The work can be complex and challenging and you will be supported to manage this with regular supervision, training, and opportunities to consult where necessary senior colleagues. You will hold a small caseload of complex cases in addition to approved mental health professional duties.

Approved mental health professional job description (pdf / 356 KB)

Apply online: Approved mental health professional - Harrogate and Craven area

Emergency duty team social worker - Approved mental health professional

Salary: from £35,745 to £44,428
Grade: JK/L
Contract: permanent

For many years, the Emergency Duty Team has run as a generic service covering children’s and adults for both North Yorkshire Council and City of York. With the landscape around us changing, we are now in a position where we are able to complete a full review of the service and shape something better suited for the future needs of the people of North Yorkshire and City of York.

The Emergency Duty Team provides an out of hours’ front line social care service for North Yorkshire Council and the City of York. Whilst you would be based at County Hall, Northallerton, we are supported with modern technology which enables us to incorporate a hybrid model of working which ensures accessibility to enable flexibility and agility with working from home around the needs of our customers, service, and the achievement of visible leadership.

This is an opportunity for someone seeking professional development and career enhancement currently working across two Local Authorities and four directorates. A unique working environment practicing generic social work which will further develop your skills in autonomous decision-making and enhance your continuing professional development.

Emergency duty team social worker / Approved mental health professional job description (pdf / 360 KB)

Apply online: Emergency duty team social worker - Approved mental health professional

What can we offer you?

We are offering a unique opportunity with professional development regardless of where you are currently at in your career. Our roles offer a wide variety of exposure across the mental health service, so there is something for everyone. With the different variety, this allows us to offer a more flexible working approach so can cater to many different working patterns as well as a mixture of onsite and home working whilst also meeting service needs.

We can offer a generous package including competitive pay (including a £200 a month market supplement for approved mental health professionals), market-leading pension scheme, flexible working practices and the potential of a generous relocation package, as well as discounts for leading retailers as well as a green lease car scheme.

Key documents

The Council Plan

Why work for us

We are strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership, and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.

A recent peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.

We positively encourage flexible working and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.

Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially make life a bit easier. These include:

a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
family friendly leave
salary sacrifice schemes
modern flexible working practices
learning and development packages
career advancement opportunities
employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
green car and cycle schemes
travel loans

You can find more information on the range of benefits we offer on our total rewards page.

Watch this video to find out about our employee networks.

Living and working in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.

North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of Outstanding Natural Parks, National Nature Reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.

North Yorkshire features significantly in the ten best places to live in the UK in Halifax Quality of Life Survey. The Quality of Life index aims to quantify where living standards are highest in the UK by ranking local performance across a range of indicators.

Richmondshire was placed second in the list, a position boosted by excellent personal wellbeing factors including life satisfaction and happiness.

Hambleton was placed fourth and Ryedale was placed eighth, a truly commendable achievement and another incredible accolade for North Yorkshire.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics bulletin positions North Yorkshire as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.

In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the east coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.

From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.

You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the No place like North Yorkshire website.

Watch this video to see more of what North Yorkshire has to offer.

Application tips

Find advice on making your application.

Contact us and apply

If you feel you have the skills, passion, and drive that we are seeking, we want to hear from you!

To apply please submit your application via our jobs and careers site.

For an informal conversation about working within the approved mental health professional teams at North Yorkshire Council, please contact:

Suzanne Hewitt on 07548 363164 or email Suzanne.Hewitt@northyorks.gov.uk for the hybrid and emergency duty team vacancies
Bryn Hoyle on 01609 533732 or email Bryn.Hoyle@northyorks.gov.uk for the Harrogate hub team
Matthew Havenhand on 01609 532566 or email Matthew.havenhand@northyorks.gov.uk for the Scarborough hub team

We will not accept applications from agencies.

Key dates

Closing date: 2 June 2024
Shortlisting: 3 June 2024
Interviews: 11 June 2024