FCAMHS Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust; Peterborough; On-site; CAD 88,000 - 101,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent mental health service provider in Peterborough is seeking a Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join the Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS). The successful candidate will provide specialist assessments and consultations for children and young people with complex mental health issues. Candidates can apply for either full-time or part-time positions, and a professional background in mental health with relevant qualifications is required. The role involves collaboration with diverse professionals across the region and necessitates independent travel.

Qualifications

• Registration with relevant professional body is mandatory.
• Evidence of continuing professional development required.
• Recognised post-basic qualification in evidence-based therapy is essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist advice and consultation to other professionals.
• Conduct specialist structured forensic assessments.
• Provide detailed comprehensive written reports following assessments.

Job description

Go back Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

FCAMHS Senior Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 05 January 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our community Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS). Consideration will be given to applicants who want to work either full time or part time.

The FCAMHS community team base is in Peterborough and there is also a second base in Cambridge. The service is regional covering the East of England region (Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire).

This dynamic service works in partnership with wider agencies to ensure integrated care provision across health, social care, education and youth justice to optimise the outcomes for children/young people who present with high risk and/or concerning behaviours and where mental health and/or neurodevelopmental concerns are suspected. The job will involve a mixture of advice and consultation and direct assessment work.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be part of a multi-disciplinary team and will have the support of a Senior Leadership Team that includes a Consultant Psychologist and Consultant Psychiatrist. The post holder will have the opportunity to be part of a specialist forensic peer supervision group.

The post holder will provide specialist services to children/young people and their families/carers. The post holder will provide assessments for children/young people with highly complex presentations and psychological consultation to other professionals involved in their care. The post holder will also be expected to undertake service development projects and research as agreed with the Senior Leadership Team.

About us

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

• Provide specialist advice and consultation to other professionals working with and on delivering interventions to children/young people with diagnosed or suspected mental health/neurodevelopmental/learning issues.
• Provide highly skilled assessment of mental health and risk and, on occasion, intervention to children/young people with diagnosed or suspected mental health/neurodevelopmental/learning issues
• Conduct specialist structured forensic and neurodevelopmental assessments as per training and skill base
• To provide detailed comprehensive written reports following assessments
• To advice and contribute to decisions/plans for high-risk child/young person who are vulnerable to and at risk of neglect, physical, sexual or emotional harm
• To support the safe and effective transitions for children/young people between the community and custodial/welfare secure settings to ensure the appropriate services are available and coordinated.
• Make clinical judgements that satisfy the expectations and demands of the role, and support colleagues to do so (seeking support from senior colleagues when needed)
• Make and receive referrals
• Regularly undertake clinical supervision for specialist practice area
• To deliver and develop specialised training regarding adolescent forensic mental health to other mental health professionals and to other professionals in probation, youth offending teams, mental health services, education and social services who also work with young children who are a risk to others.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications

• Up to date registration with relevant professional body
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Recognised post-basic qualification in an evidence-based therapy (e.g. Dip CBT, CAT, IPT, etc)

Experience

• Significant experience at Band 6 or equivalent of working in a mental health service and of liaising and working with other professionals
• Significant management or clinical leadership component to previous post
• Experience of completing mental health assessment
• Experience of managing own caseload and making independent decisions
• Experience of risk assessment and risk management
• Experience of working within child and adolescent mental health services.
• Experience of working within forensic mental health settings
• Experience of working in a secure setting

Skills & Abilities

• Receptive to and able to use clinical supervision appropriately
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written
• Ability and confidence to build and maintain relationships and credibility with a wide variety of professionals/stakeholders
• Able to assimilate new information and apply theory to practice
• Ability to contribute audit, service evaluation and development.
• Understanding of mental health legislation Knowledge of issues relating to child and adolescent mental health difficulties
• Evidence-based practice relevant to the role
• Knowledge of research methods/audit relevant to the job
• Interest in developing knowledge base and skills relating to the provision of high-quality mental health care
• Knowledge of Safeguarding requirements for children
• Knowledge of the impact of trauma and neglect

Other

• The ability to travel independently (There will be a requirement to travel across the wide footprint of FCAMHS in the East of England).

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.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum pro rata