Overview
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 14 November 2025
My name is James Hussain, I am the Team Manager for SecureCAMHS. I am seeking a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner to join our secure CAMHS team at Aldine House Secure Children's home. There will be an opportunity to build therapeutic relationships with young people, in order to assess risk and mental health needs. Liaison, communication and consultation with other professional groups and partner agencies within the home will be necessary to ensure that robust and holistic care plans are established around young people. There will be opportunities to develop and run therapeutic groups and chances to offer trauma-informed 1:1 interventions, depending on the identified needs of young people. You will be working within an experienced multidisciplinary team and under a supportive operational and clinical leadership team.
Secure CAMHS operates Monday–Friday, 8am–5pm (9-hour period). Weekend On-Call service will be part of this role provided by clinicians within the secure estate (this could be telephone, video or face to face as clinically indicated).
At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.
Main duties of the job
Aldine House is a 10-bedded secure children's home, home to young people aged 10–18, remanded or sentenced by the criminal courts, or accommodated for their own welfare.
This role is a unique opportunity to drive change across a setting that provides care for the most disenfranchised young people in the UK. The role links closely with Residential Support Workers who provide care for the young people residing within the home. Highlighting the importance of integration across the service, with this role being vital in supporting and educating other team members on trauma experienced by our young people. The role requires a values-led practitioner, who is truly curious and motivated to work across systemic barriers through inter-agency working.
Part of your role will be to offer screening assessments for young people who are newly arrived at the home, and you will attend meetings held by the home, for example to review young people's risk to self or others.
You will provide person-centred assessment of their mental health needs and risk, in addition to screening for neurodevelopmental needs. You will be part of a supportive multidisciplinary team within which you can seek support to establish a plan of care and intervention for young people.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect patients.
About us
We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the West Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.
Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities; we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.
We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.
Being a foundation Trust means we are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we're run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.
Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.
We reserve the right to close the vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
The post-holder will:
* Provide assessment and treatment to children and young people with mental health needs;
* Work autonomously and collaboratively within the MDT, providing consultation for other agencies/professionals;
* Work as part of CAMHS first on-call rota.
* Promote the safeguarding and welfare of children and young people.
* Provide routine and urgent assessment and interventions to young people with a wide range of emotional and psychological problems who are referred to specialist CAMHS, in keeping with evidence-based practice with supervision from a senior clinician within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the teams policies and procedures.
KEY RESULT AREAS:
1. To support the ongoing process of delivering a comprehensive CAMHS system.
2. To provide assessment, interventions, therapy to children and young people with the most severe, complex and persistent mental health problems, including those who are severely mentally ill or at suicidal risk and where appropriate, families as both an autonomous practitioner and as part of a multidisciplinary team in a variety of settings to address need. This will include working with the CAPA model.
3. To apply a sound knowledge of safeguarding children and guidelines in clinical work.
4. To be committed to a quality approach for patient care.
5. The post-holder will demonstrate high levels of concentration and provides sustained effort in assessment of complex family issues.
6. To manage own caseload, accessing support and guidance appropriate to individual need.
7. To operate within the clinical and case management supervision framework.
8. To provide training, consultation and supervision to other service providers, partner agencies and junior members of staff as required regarding intensive interventions with children, young people and families.
9. To participate in the development, audit and review of this extension to existing service provision.
10. To work as part of the CAMHS on call rota when required and to work in a flexible manner (24/7).
11. To undertake extended hours of work alongside fellow specialist CAMHS practitioners.
12. To work collaboratively with all services to provide coherent and coordinated mental health services for children and young people as well as other significant partners, ensuring timely transition and relevant consultation, training and support to universal services and targeted groups.
13. To use a range of Information Technology systems (including Rio) ensuring high quality data is collected appropriately, kept securely and confidentially.
14. To participate in an agreed clinical audit programme for the service, and ensure lessons learnt from both audit and clinical incidents are reported.
15. To comply with both clinical and corporate governance frameworks.
16. To support the engagement of service stakeholders and users in the development and monitoring of service delivery and identify opportunities for service improvement and redesign.
17. To actively promote user/carer involvement in all aspects of care planning/delivery whilst respecting the rights, capabilities and wishes of the individuals concerned.
18. To work in an innovative and child, young person and family centred way, in a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
19. Apply Trust policies and procedures in instances of aggression, acute distress and disturbed mental health presentations.
20. To maintain relevant professional registration
21. To identify and communicate any concerns through the relevant management processes.
22. To demonstrate continued practice development and engage in annual appraisal.
Additional sections
VDUUSER: To record own data and to access email and internet
Trust values and governance
The Trust is committed to ensuring the highest standards of care and treatment and expects that all staff treat people with dignity and respect at all times. The post holder must act in accordance with the Trusts Values: Respectful, Person first and in the centre, Improve and be outstanding, Relevant today, ready for tomorrow, Families and carers matter.
Safeguarding: Report any concerns regarding the safety or wellbeing of children, adults service users, members of their families etc, in accordance with Trust Policy. Prevent and respond appropriately to abuse and understand own role in this by undertaking Safeguarding training.
Trust policies and commitments to be read in line with the relevant Trust Policy: All staff must comply with Trust policies and procedures, undertake appropriate training, ensure awareness of the Whistleblowing Policy, maintain confidentiality, understand data quality responsibilities under GDPR/DPA, comply with Health and Safety, receive supervision and annual appraisal, uphold Equal Opportunities, promote equality and diversity, safeguard and promote welfare of children and young people under 18, comply with CPD, audits and clinical governance, and work flexibly within Investors in People standards.
Adhere to the Trusts smoke-free policy, be socially responsible, identify and report risks, hazards, incidents, accidents and near misses promptly. All staff are responsible for ensuring their work adheres to the Code of Practice on infections control.
This job description is an outline of the main duties and the postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the band as directed. The content will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder.
For full details of the role please see the supporting documents attached.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. We strongly discourage this and will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Relevant professional qualification, e.g. Mental health or Learning disability nursing.
* Membership of professional body.
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).
* A teaching and assessing qualification.
Experience
* Substantial post qualification experience, some of which must be working with Children, young people and their carers in a mental health or other complex care setting.
* Multidisciplinary team working.
* Inter-agency liaison and consultation.
* Experience of supervising/mentoring junior staff.
* Knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance e.g. NHS plan, Mental Health Legislation, Children's Act, Education Act, Working Together, Children's NSF, Every Child Matters, etc.
* Clinical/therapeutic knowledge and skills in mental health.
* Experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence-based practice.
* Proven ability to work with other agencies and disciplines and in partnership with other organisations.
* Experience of safeguarding children and young people.
* Experience of community settings.
* Experience of working in different cultural contexts.
* Knowledge and experience of working with Equality and Diversity.
Special Knowledge/Skills
* Good verbal and communication skills.
* Ability to manage own caseload.
* Good negotiation skills, and problem solving skills.
* Effective record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments.
* Have good team working skills. Be able to work across disciplines with an ability to predict and manage inter-disciplinary tensions and foster good working practices.
Training
* Training and experience relating to specialist CAMHS.
* Experience of delivering training to others.
Personal Attributes
* Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
* Commitment to multi-agency approach.
* Ability to work and make decisions under pressure.
* Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive.
* Clarity of decision making.
* Willingness to be flexible and adaptable in accordance with changing service priorities.
* Commitment to challenging discrimination and improving accessibility of services.
* Ability to cope calmly in a crisis.
* To demonstrate good self care and encourage the same in team members.
* A current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability).
* Have training or undertake training to participate in the CAMH Service 24/7 on call rota.
Physical Attributes
* Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to fairness and equality considerations, especially where sickness relates to disability or pregnancy).
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 CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
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