Go back South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Mental Health Practitioner
The closing date is 12 November 2025
Were excited to offer apermanent, full-time opportunity for a Senior Mental Health Practitioner tojoin our Assessment and Primary Intervention Team (APIT) within Barnsley CAMHS.
APIT is a dynamicmultidisciplinary team delivering high-quality mental health services tochildren and families. We provide timely assessments and tailored interventionsto support emotional wellbeing and promote positive outcomes.
This varied role suits anexperienced practitioner eager to make a difference. Youll join a passionate,supportive team where staff wellbeing is a priority. We offer a thoroughinduction, regular supervision, and excellent opportunities for training andprofessional growth.
Were seeking individuals:
who feel fulfilled helpingyoung people and families
who are curious about othersand want to help them thrive
who care deeply aboutemotional wellbeing and mental health
who are dynamic, flexible,creative, professional, and reflective
We welcome informal visits orconversations if youd like to learn more.
Atthe time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UKVisas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forwardto receiving your application.
Main duties of the job
This role involves assessing young people referred to CAMHSand delivering brief interventions for issues such as anxiety and low mood. Italso includes close collaboration with Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) underthe Branching Minds (BM) initiative, which acts as the front door to childrensmental health services in Barnsley, ensuring timely access to appropriatesupport. As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, youll play a key role incoordinating referral reading, risk screening, signposting, and liaising withlocal partners in health, education, and social care.
You will work collaboratively with families, carers, andyoung people, adapting your approach to meet their needs. This includesmanaging clinical complexity, multi-agency working, and consideringneurodiversity.
Team wellbeing is a high priority. We support flexibleworking to promote a positive work-life balance. Youll receive robustmanagerial and clinical supervision, plus excellent training and professionaldevelopment opportunities.
We welcome applications from allied Health Professionalsincluding: Childrens Wellbeing Practitioners, Registered Nurses (Paediatric,General, Mental Health, Learning Disability), Occupational Therapists, andSocial Workers.
Please ensure youmeet the essential requirements before applying.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to befully vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect patients.
About us
Weare a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental healthand learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale,Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and arethe lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.
Our mission isto help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do thisby providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employstaff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make adifference to the lives of service users, families and carers.
We encourageand welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we valuediversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.
Beinga foundation Trust means were accountable to ourmembers, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people(including staff) are members of our Trust.
Joinus and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improvingthe mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet andhelp each year.
Weare committedto safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people andvulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share thiscommitment.
We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
JOB SUMMARY
Thepost-holder will:
Provide assessment and treatment to childrenand young people with mental health needs;
Work autonomously and collaboratively withinthe MDT, providing consultation for other agencies/professionals;
Work as part of CAMHS first on-call rota.
Promote the safeguarding and welfare ofchildren and young people.
Toprovide routine and urgent assessment and interventions to young people with awide range of emotional and psychological problems who are referred tospecialist CAMHS, in keeping with evidence based practice with supervision froma senior clinician within professional guidelines and within the overallframework of the teams policies and procedures.
KEY RESULT AREAS:
1 To support theongoing process of delivering a comprehensive CAMHS system.
2 To provideassessment, interventions, therapy to children, young people with the mostsevere, complex and persistent mental health problems, including those whoare severely mentally ill or atsuicidal risk and where appropriate, families as both an autonomouspractitioner and as part of a multidisciplinary team in a variety of settingsto address need. This will include working with the CAPA model.
3 To apply a soundknowledge of safeguarding children and guidelines in clinical work.
4 To be committedto a quality approach for patient care.
5 Thepost-holder will demonstrate high levels of concentration and providesustained effort in assessment of complex family issues.
6 To manage own caseload, accessing support and guidance appropriate to individualneed.
7 To operate within the clinical and case managementsupervision framework.
8 To provide training, consultation and supervision toother service providers, partner agencies and junior members of staff asrequired regarding intensive interventions with children, young people andfamilies.
9 To participate in the development, audit andreview of this extension to existing service provision.
10 To work as part of the CAMHS on call rota whenrequired and to work in a flexible manner (24/7).
11 To undertake extended hours of work alongside fellowspecialist CAMHS practitioners.
12 To work collaboratively with all services to providecoherent and co-ordinated mental health services for children and youngpeople as well as other significant partners, ensuring timely transition andrelevant consultation, training and support to universal services andtargeted groups.
13 To use a range of Information Technology systems(including Rio) ensuring high quality data is collected appropriately, keptsecurely and confidentially
14 To participate in an agreed clinical audit programmefor the service, and ensure lessons learnt from both audit and clinicalincidents are reported.
15 To comply with both clinical and corporate governanceframeworks.
16 Tosupport the engagement of service stakeholders and users in the developmentand monitoring of service delivery and identify opportunities for serviceimprovement and redesign.
17 To actively promote user/carer involvement in allaspects of care planning/delivery whilst respecting the rights, capabilitiesand wishes of the individuals concerned.
18 To work in an innovative andchild, young person and family centred way, in a culture of continuousimprovement and learning.
19 Apply Trust policies and procedures in instances ofaggression, acute distress and disturbed mental health presentations.
20 To maintain relevant professional registration
21 To identify and communicate any concerns through therelevant management processes.
22 To demonstrate continued practice development andengage in annual appraisal.
VDUUSER
To record own data and to access emailand internet
Trust Values:
The Trust is committed to ensuring the highest standards of care andtreatment and expects that all staff treat people e.g, service users, theircarers, relatives, friends, colleagues, visitors etc, with dignity andrespectat all time. The post holder must all time actin accordance with the Trusts Values:
Respectful
Person firstand in the centre
Improve and beoutstanding
Relevanttoday, ready for tomorrow
Families andcarers matter
Safeguarding:
Report any concerns regarding the safety orwellbeing of children, adults service users,members of their families etc, in accordance with Trust Policy.
Prevent and respond appropriately to abuse andunderstand own role in this by undertaking Safeguarding training.
Trust policies and commitments to beread in line with the relevant Trust Policy:
All staff employed by the Trust mustcomply with the Trusts policies and procedures, undertake appropriate trainingrequired for their role and commit to:
ensure they are aware of the Whistleblowing Policy and how they raiseconcerns;
maintain confidentiality, in line withthe Trusts Confidentiality Policy and Code of Conduct;
understandtheir personal responsibilities with regards to data quality for anyinformation which they create, use or process in accordance with the GeneralData Protection Regulation (GDPR), TheData Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and Trust Data Protection policy;
complywith the provisions of The Trusts Health and Safety Policy and Protocol.Ensuring their own safety and that of colleagues, service users and visitors.Know the action to be taken in the event of a fire and must undertake firetraining annually;
receivesupervision in line with the Trusts Supervision Policy and an annual Appraisalin line with the Trusts Appraisal Policy, during which mandatory, rolespecific and personal development needs should be identified and agreed;
understandtheir responsibilities under the Trusts Equal Opportunities in EmploymentPolicy and ensure that they adhere to the provisions of the policy;
recognise,respect and support the equality diversity of staff, colleagues, service users,carers and the public. Contribute to aworking environment which promotes and responds positively to difference anddiversity;
ensurethey carry out their duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children andyoung people under the age of 18 years, as issued under Section 11 of TheChildren Act 2004, by being familiar with and adhering to Trust safeguardingpolicies and participatingin relevanttraining;
complywith their professional responsibilities to develop their practice and delivercare through a Clinical Governance framework (i.e. CPD, Audit, Supervision);
demonstrate,through practice and practical understanding, the importance of the continualdevelopment of individual, team and service wide quality improvement;
abideby relevant codes of professional practice, with the organisation taking actionwhen codes of conduct are breached;
workflexibly to meet the needs of the service/organisation, whilst working within aculture of progressive employment practices and commitment to the Investors inPeople (IiP) Standards.
adhereto the Trusts smoke free policies, which prohibits smoking anywhere on Trustgrounds;
being socially responsible by complying with measuresthat support the Trust in reducing or offsetting our environmental impact;
Identify and report risks, hazards, incidents, accidentsand near misses promptly;
In addition to the Trusts ownresponsibilities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, Code of Practice onthe prevention and control of infections and related guidance, for your safety,ALL staff (and contractors) are responsible for ensuring their work adheres tothis Code in the delivery of safe patient care.
Thisjob description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertakeother duties commensurate with the band as directed. The content of this postwill be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in linewith the service developments.
For full details of the role please see the supporting documents attached.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicants areusing AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Westrongly discourage this and will conduct a thorough screening process beforeselecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI toenhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs applicationform.
Person Specification
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, Childrens act, Education Act, Working Together, Childrens 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.
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).
Qualifications
* Relevant professional qualification, e.g. nursing, or other professional allied to medicine.
* Dip SW or relevant mental health profession.
* Membership of professional body.
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).
* A teaching and assessing qualification.
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).
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 known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
#J-18808-Ljbffr