Camhs Practitioner

Northumbria Healthcare Nhs Foundation Trust; North East; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust advertises a Complex Care Practitioner within CAMHS, joining a multidisciplinary team to deliver risk-assessed, person-centred care for children and young people with complex needs.

The role involves coordinating care across agencies, developing care plans, and delivering therapeutic interventions while maintaining high standards of record-keeping and governance.

Qualifications

• Professional registration and appropriate qualification to practice in CAMHS.
• Experience of leadership, training and clinical supervision.
• Knowledge of safeguarding policies and child protection procedures.

Responsibilities

• Hold and manage a caseload of children and young people with complex mental health presentations.
• Undertake comprehensive biopsychosocial and risk assessments.
• Develop, implement and regularly review personalised care plans with families.
• Act as Care Coordinator and coordinate multidisciplinary input.
• Provide therapeutic interventions within professional competence.
• Coordinate multi-agency meetings and contribute to safeguarding processes.
• Monitor clinical risk and escalate crises as needed.
• Liaise with education, social care, paediatric and community services for seamless care.
• Support transitions to Adult Mental Health Services when appropriate.
• Maintain accurate records and contribute to governance and quality improvement.

Skills

Leadership

Training / supervision

Driving licence

Education

First Level Registered Nurse / social work / OT / psychology or equivalent

Current registration with NMC / HCPC / BACP

Postgraduate qualification or equivalent

Teaching/training qualification

Additional therapeutic qualification

Experience in neurodevelopmental conditions

Job description

Job summary

North Tyneside Specialist CAMHS seeking a compassionate, skilled, and motivated Complex Care Practitioner to join our multidisciplinary team. This is an exciting opportunity to work with children, young people, and their families who present with highly complex mental health needs requiring coordinated, intensive, and person-centred care.

The postholder will act as Care Coordinator where appropriate, ensuring effective coordination of services and multidisciplinary input. The post holder will also act as the lead practitioner for a defined caseload, undertaking comprehensive mental health assessments, developing collaborative care plans, coordinating interventions across agencies, and ensuring continuity of care for young people with significant emotional, behavioural, and psychological difficulties.

Working closely with psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, nurses, social care, education, and voluntary sector partners, you will play a key role in reducing risk, improving outcomes, preventing unnecessary admissions, and supporting recovery through evidence-based and trauma-informed practice.

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.

Main Duties

• Hold and manage a caseload of children and young people with complex and enduring mental health presentations.
• Undertake comprehensive biopsychosocial and risk assessments.
• Develop, implement, and regularly review personalised care plans in partnership with young people and their families.
• Act as Care Coordinator where appropriate, ensuring effective coordination of services and multidisciplinary input.
• Provide therapeutic interventions within the scope of professional competence.
• Coordinate multi-agency meetings and contribute to safeguarding, Child Protection, and Child in Need processes.
• Monitor and manage clinical risk, responding appropriately to crises and escalating concerns when necessary.
• Liaise effectively with education, social care, paediatric services, community organisations, and inpatient services to ensure seamless care.
• Support transitions between services, including transfer to Adult Mental Health Services where appropriate.
• Maintain accurate clinical records and contribute to service evaluation, quality improvement, and clinical governance.

About us

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres.

We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

Job responsibilities

• Responsible for the assessment and interpretation mental health needs of children, adolescents and their families in conjunction with other multi disciplinary team members.
• To participate in the assessment of children and young people involved in deliberate self harm.
• Responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of therapeutic interventions in consultation with other multi disciplinary team members.
• To carry and maintain personal key worker and joint caseworker responsibilities for children and young people Working within multidisciplinary and departmental supervision systems.
• To participate in supervision systems, which currently operate within CAMHS, keeping your line manager informed of all matters directly related to the post holders area of responsibility and accountability.
• To provide specialist advice to children, young people their families and staff external to the department on the promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental illness.
• To participate in the establishment, organisation, delivery and evaluation of clinics within the department alongside members of the Multi Disciplinary Team.
• To record and interpret clients physical observations when indicated in conjunction with members of the multidisciplinary team.
• Ensure all children and families receive a high quality, effective service, offering a broad range of interventions.
• Risk Management - to deliver the quality standards and targets outlined in the Trusts Risk Management Strategy and local operational policies.
• Undertake liaison with other agencies to ensure that child/young persons needs are managed at right level of service provision based on clinical need.

Person Specification

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

• Extensive experience of working in child and adolescent mental health services or substantial experience of working with children and young people with emotional and behavioural and neurodevelopmental difficulties.
• Experience of working with Children and Young People in a variety of settings.
• Experience of working in partnership with other agencies.
• Evidence of leadership skills/experience.
• Experience of delivering training/clinical supervision.
• Experience of delivering a wide range of interventions including group work, parenting work and individual therapy.
• Knowledge, experience and understanding of child protection policies and procedures.
• Evidence of practice development.
• Experience of or training in psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of or experience in coaching and mentoring practices and tools
• Knowledge of or experience in Quality improvement tools, techniques and methods

Other Requirements

Essential

• It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role

Qualifications

Essential

• Professional qualification i.e. 1st Level Registered Nurse, social work, OT, psychology or equivalent professional qualification
• Hold current registration with a regulated professional body/ organisation: NMC, HCPC or BACP
• Post Graduate Qualification or equivalent qualification and / or experience
• A recognised teaching and training qualification.
• Additional qualification in a specific therapeutic modality
• Training and/or experience in working with neurodevelopmental conditions

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).