Go back South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
CAMHS Lead Clinician - Art or Family Therapist desirable
The closing date is 16 December 2025
We are looking for a Lead Clinician to clinically lead TheSpecialised Therapies Team within Wakefield CAMHS!
The successful candidate will work alongside the Team Manager and other Lead Clinicians in the service, having the opportunity to be at the forefront of a developing service, and they will play a key role in shaping how services are provided to children, young people and families within the Wakefield District.
The post holder will work alongside the leadership team to develop and implement new and innovative ways of delivering evidence‑based treatments, having a clear plan for the development of clinical skills and developing a clinical competency framework.
Providing Clinical Leadership through clinical supervision, caseload management supervision and teaching.
The post holder will work clinically for 2 days alongside the Lead Clinician role within the team. We are looking for a clinician with a therapeutic background ideally. We have Art Therapists, Family Therapists, Play Therapists, Drama Therapists, DBT and CBT Practitioners, Clinical Psychologists, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists and Advanced Nurse Practitioners within our team. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Chloe Sennitt to discuss the role in more detail.
Main duties of the job
The Lead Clinician will be required to work flexibly to support the needs of the service. Extensive clinical knowledge and relevant experience of assessing and managing risk within a mental health and/or social care setting is essential.
The successful candidate will be expected to have a flexible approach to travel delivering services across the district to meet the needs of the children, young people and families. We are seeking a Lead Clinician, who will:
* Hold a professional registration and meet the job specification if you aren’t sure, please contact Chloe Sennitt, the Recruiting Manager
* Be passionate about improving the delivery of evidence‑based treatments for children, young people and their families.
* Be a driven, enthusiastic and forward‑thinking leader.
* Have a clear interest in the development of the clinical skills of the staff within CAMHS service.
* Have extensive experience working in CAMHS services.
* Have significant experience of working with clinicians to achieve service improvement.
* Have a range of experience of leading projects or other clinically based initiatives which will have made a contribution to delivering innovative and high‑quality services to children and young people.
* Be experienced in the delivery of clinical and caseload management supervision.
* The post also involves attendance at a variety of meetings in order to discuss complex cases as well as liaison with other services.
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’re 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 do reserve the right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
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.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID‑19 to protect patients.
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 to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.
This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The post-holder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed.
The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the post-holder when necessary and in line with the service developments.
To provide highly specialist skills and expertise, facilitating interventions of the highest quality in the field of mental health, including emergency assessments and intensive interventions with children, young people and their families.
To work autonomously and collaboratively within the MDT, providing consultation and teaching for other agencies/professionals.
To provide supervision and teaching to all other disciplines within CAMHS and to deputise as agreed for the team leader.
To promote safeguarding and the welfare of children and young people.
KEY RESULT AREAS:
CLINICAL
1
To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility in accordance with the Trust Policies and procedures.
2
The post-holder will have highly developed skills in assessing the needs of children and their carers based on the analysis of highly complex facts and situations. Interventions will be planned based on the assessment information and interpretation of this. The clinical assessment will include gathering appropriate historical information from the child and family, allied to clinical observation of family relationships and mental state of the child and other family members, and obtaining relevant information from other agencies. Offering highly specialist expertise in child and adolescent mental health, ensuring clear documentation in all appropriate case notes and sharing assessments and information with the family and all relevant professionals.
3
To undertake highly specialist initial assessments of young people following acts of serious self-harm and attempted suicide in line with evidence based practice.
4
To undertake highly specialised risk assessments following referral for presentations requiring urgent mental health or psychiatric assessment and plan relevant interventions.
5
To implement intensive interventions with young people and their families, as relevant to the post-holder’s main clinical role, i.e. group and individual work, systemic family interventions. This will include analysis, interpretation and evaluation to reformulate plans of care.
6
The post-holder will provide therapeutic care to emotionally demanding clients in highly emotive situations.
7
The post-holder will develop and maintain therapeutic relationships with children and carers. This will include cases of high complexity which require more specialised levels of assessment and therapeutic skills.
8
As part of multidisciplinary team, the Senior Mental Health Practitioner will deliver and devise complex packages of care. Provide individual and family review/follow-up sessions to children, young people or their carers.
9
To take a lead role in setting guidelines and standards that will ensure all young persons identified with complex problems are discharged from Specialist CAMHS with an appropriate package of care from universal services.
10
The post-holder will have skills to communicate highly complex information regarding personal psycho-social problems in an empathic and supportive way using the highest level of interpersonal skills in situations which can be highly emotional and sometimes antagonistic. Service users and families may have difficulty or be reluctant to understand what is communicated to them.
11
Communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information utilising highly developed interpersonal skills. Take into account issues of confidentiality and the consent of Adults and Young People. Considering and assessing a child’s maturity to consent.
12
To work with children, young people (0‑18) and their families, liaising with external agencies, e.g. Education, Social Services and Paediatric Services. Presenting problems are frequently complex and require that sophisticated packages of care are negotiated and delivered. To actively promote user/carer involvement in all aspects of care planning/delivery whilst respecting the rights, capabilities and wishes of the individuals concerned.
13
To apply a sound knowledge of safeguarding children and guidelines in clinical work.
14
To deputise for the team leader in his/her absence.
15
Apply Trust policies and procedures in instances of aggression, acute distress and disturbed mental health presentations.
Person Specification
Special Knowledge and Skills
* Excellent verbal and communication skills
* Ability to manage own caseload and to be a self‑reliant and autonomous practitioner
* Excellent negotiation skills, and problem solving skills
* Excellent record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments.
Physical Attributes
* Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy).
Personal Attributes
* Able to work autonomously and as part of a team
* Commitment to multi‑agency approach/working
* Ability to work and make decisions under pressure.
* Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive
* Ability to make and lead decisions under pressure/crisis situations
* 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)
* To have integrity, be honest, open, transparent and respectful.
Experience
* Experience of delivering training to others
* 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
* Experience of working in different cultural contexts
* Knowledge and experience of working with Equality and Diversity.
* Multidisciplinary team working
* Inter‑agency liaison and consultation
* Experience of providing highly specialist advice and supervision to other professionals
* Knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance for working with children, young people, mental health and safeguarding
* Evidence of advanced clinical/therapeutic knowledge and skills in mental health.
* Extensive experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence based practice
* Advanced experience of safeguarding children and young people.
* Experience of community settings
Qualifications
* Relevant professional qualification, e.g. nursing, or other professional allied to medicine
* Post qualification training in identified portfolio, e.g. LD. LAC, eating disorder
* Dip SW or relevant mental health profession
* A teaching and assessing qualification
* Membership of professional body
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling)
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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
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