CAMHS Specialist Practitioner

Job Overview

The CYP Primary Care Mental Health Team is seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Band 7 Senior Mental Health Therapeutic Practitioner to support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate emotional and mental health difficulties.

The postholder will work across Primary Care Networks, GP surgeries, and community settings, providing mental health assessments, evidence-based interventions, consultations, and support for children, young people and their families. The role is central to the development of an integrated and accessible mental health pathway, promoting early intervention, prevention, and partnership working across health, education, social care and voluntary sector services.

Main duties of the job

• Deliver comprehensive mental health assessments and brief evidence-based interventions for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health needs.
• Hold and manage a clinical caseload, acting as lead professional where appropriate.
• Develop and deliver care plans, therapeutic interventions and psychoeducation for young people, parents and carers.
• Work autonomously within GP practices and Primary Care Networks to support early identification and intervention.
• Provide consultation, advice, training and support to primary care staff and partner agencies.
• Work collaboratively with schools, social care, voluntary sector organisations and wider CAMHS services to ensure joined-up care.
• Undertake risk assessment, risk management and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Contribute to service development, quality improvement initiatives, training programmes and evaluation of outcomes.
• Promote co-production and ensure the voices of children, young people and families inform service delivery.

Working for our organisation

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is committed to delivering high-quality, compassionate care and improving outcomes for children, young people and families.

The CYP Primary Care Mental Health Team works in partnership with Primary Care Networks, CAMHS, schools, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and wider community services to provide accessible early intervention mental health support. The service has been developed as part of the wider transformation of community mental health provision, ensuring children and young people can access timely support closer to home and reducing unnecessary escalation to specialist services.

Our Trust values are

• Compassion
• Respect
• Empowerment
• Partnership

These values underpin everything we do and guide our work with children, young people, families and colleagues

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The successful candidate will:

Clinical Responsibilities

• Undertake mental health assessments and formulate appropriate intervention plans.
• Deliver brief evidence-based psychological interventions, including CBT-informed, systemic and solution-focused approaches where qualified.
• Manage and prioritise a caseload of children and young people presenting with emotional and mental health difficulties.
• Undertake risk assessments and safeguarding activities in line with local and national policies.
• Monitor clinical outcomes and evaluate interventions.
• Promote self-management and resilience through therapeutic work and psychoeducation

Consultation, Liaison and Partnership Working

• Act as an embedded mental health practitioner within Primary Care Networks and GP practices.
• Provide consultation, advice and support to GPs, care navigators and other professionals.
• Work closely with schools, social care, youth services, voluntary sector organisations and specialist CAMHS teams.
• Promote effective communication and coordinated multi-agency care for children and young people.

Training and Supervision

• Deliver training and educational sessions to primary care and community professionals.
• Participate in and provide clinical supervision as appropriate.
• Support workforce development and the dissemination of best practice across the network

Service Development and Quality Improvement

• Contribute to the ongoing development of the CYP Primary Care Mental Health Team model.
• Assist in the development of pathways, protocols and service improvements.
• Participate in audit, research, data collection and quality improvement projects.
• Support implementation of Trust and national clinical policies and standards.

Professional Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate and timely clinical records.
• Adhere to professional standards, safeguarding requirements and Trust policies.
• Demonstrate CNWL values and act as a role model for collaborative, person-centred practice.

Person specification

Education And Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Core Professional qualification eg. Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, Mental Health / Learning Disability Nursing, Psychotherapy, Art Therapy, Family Therapy. Social Work qualifications also considered
• Current professional registration with appropriate professional body HCPC, SSC, NMC, BACP
• Supervision training or demonstrable experience

Desirable criteria

• Mentorship qualification
• CYP IAPT qualification/ CBT qualification

Previous Experience

Essential criteria

• Previous experience working with children and young people in a mental health setting
• Experience of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families
• Must be experienced in, and able to demonstrate ability to provide case management supervision

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of working in a CAMHS setting.
• Experience of teaching and training professionals
• Experience of working in a Primary Care setting and/or liaison with GP

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Sound understanding of evidence based interventions for CYP mental health (e.g CBT, systemic, solution focused, trauma informed approaches)
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to children and adolescents and safeguarding procedures and policies
• Knowledge of NHS, Social Care and Education structures, national policies and frameworks& evidence-based guidelines (NICE)
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of short term and long-term clinical interventions in CAMHS
• Ability to maintain accurate, timely, concise and legible clinical records both electronically and handwritten, which adhere to the CNWL policies
• Able to talk to people about sensitive issues in a supportive manner but also challenge others appropriately, in a professional manner
• Ability to communicate clearly verbally and in writing, including reports and documentation
• Ability to listen and understand, and to process often complex information
• Ability to determine and reduce level of risk to self, service users and others