South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Southwark CAMHS practitioner
The closing date is 06 May 2026
The post holder will be a care coordinator, assessing and treating children and young people in the team working in collaboration with the multiple disciplinary teams (MDT). The post holder will also be involved in supporting and advising parents and carers of children and young people referred to the service, as well as offering consultation and advice to their professional networks.
Main duties of the job
Participate as a multi‑disciplinary team member in the assessment and treatment of children and young people referred to CAMHS.
Ensure that all recording and reporting of client contact are accurate, up to date, of good quality and within CAMHS and professional requirement standards of record keeping. Collect and collate information about individual clinical activity on ePJS.
Work with the team and clients to maintain a safe therapeutic environment, and assure the quality of care through achieving high operational standards in clinical systems.
Maintain and ensure good professional standards and attitudes towards the care and treatment of children, young people and their families.
Link with other statutory and voluntary agencies and professionals, and other CAMHS teams in terms of referrals and joint work. Maintain good relationships and clear lines of communication, providing specialist advice and support where appropriate.
Contribute to the effective functioning of the team and service through attendance at relevant meetings, taking responsibilities within the service as appropriate and negotiated with the line manager.
About us
Our national and specialist CAMHS services have a formidable reputation nationally and internationally, comprising a broad range of outpatient clinics and five inpatient units. We have a strong tradition of evidence‑based treatment and are active in clinical research, developing, assessing and implementing effective new treatments such as intensive day treatments for eating disorders.
Our clinical teams are fully committed to multi‑disciplinary, comprehensive assessments of young people within their family and social context, taking into account their academic achievements and potential.
We offer training programmes and service development support for mental health professionals both nationally and internationally. We also have a range of specially developed educational mental health programmes targeted at school‑age children and young people for interventions to whole classes, small groups, and individual students.
Southwark CAMHS employs a large number of child and adolescent mental‑health staff from a variety of disciplines, including child psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, family therapy, nursing, occupational therapy, art and drama psychotherapy. The service is organised as follows:
* CAMHS Early Help integrated with Children's Social Care
* Specialist services for children, adolescents & their families (2 teams)
* Specialist services for young people with neuro‑developmental disorders
* Carelink – CAMHS Looked‑After Children team
Job responsibilities
Assume responsibility for own case list and case management of children, adolescents and families who are determined to be at low/medium/high risk.
Work therapeutically with children and young people with neuro‑developmental conditions such as autism and ADHD, providing evidence‑based therapy interventions.
Make a clinical formulation from a standard CAMHS assessment, including risk assessment, and recommend a treatment intervention. Design, write and share a copy of the care plan with children, young people and their carers.
Assess safeguarding issues and refer concerns to Child Protection teams.
Deliver interventions for children and young people who have self‑harmed, are in crisis or presenting with other mental health concerns; the treatment interventions are based on NICE guidelines and evidence‑based practice.
Use individual, group work, family work, advice and supervision according to the needs of children and young people, adopting a flexible and innovative approach to packages of care.
Participate and lead in joint complex assessments with other disciplines and other agencies, and provide reports for referrers, families and other agencies as required.
Maintain good relationships and clear lines of communication with other professional agencies and departments, providing specialist advice and support where appropriate.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* First‑level nursing qualification/registration RMN or RSCN, or a doctorate‑level qualification in clinical or counselling psychology, or a first‑level qualification in OT, social work, or equivalent, or a first‑level qualification in art, drama or music therapy with related experience in the psychological aspects of caring for children and adolescents with mental health problems/needs, developmental/learning disability problems.
* All applicants will require a professional training and relevant clinical experience, including CAMHS (or clear evidence of transferable skills) and professional registration with one of the following statutory bodies: Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Health Professional Council/HPC, Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP), Social Work England, or The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
* Specialist training in modalities such as CBT, DBT, IPT‑A, systemic family therapy, and art psychotherapy.
Experience
* Experience of multi‑agency working.
* Experience of working in a community or specialist CAMHS multidisciplinary team.
* Working knowledge of MHA, MCA and safeguarding children legislation.
* Prompt and accurate recording on to electronic notes system.
* Experience working in a CAMHS duty system.
* Experience in undertaking mental health assessments.
* Experience in working therapeutically with children and young people with neuro‑developmental conditions.
* Experience in facilitating therapeutic groups.
Knowledge
* Knowledge and skills in core CAMHS treatment skills, range of interventions and more in‑depth knowledge in at least one treatment model.
* Excellent risk assessment and documentation skills.
* Knowledge and understanding of issues relating to information sharing and confidentiality.
* Understanding of and ability to maintain a safe therapeutic environment.
* Ability to work in partnership with service users and carers in the planning and delivery of care.
* Experience in facilitating therapeutic groups.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and therefore a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) is required to check for any previous criminal convictions.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Salary: £47,951 to £56,863 per annum inclusive of HCAs.
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