Mental Health Practitioner

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust; Leeds; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS trust in the UK seeks a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner to join their SecureCAMHS team. This role involves assessment and treatment for young people aged 10-18 with mental health needs. You will work within a supportive multidisciplinary team, promoting holistic care and conducting screening assessments. Strong communication and collaborative skills are essential. The position offers the chance to make a significant impact on the lives of vulnerable young people.

Benefits

Supportive team environment

Opportunity for professional development

Contributions to mental health initiatives

Qualifications

• Substantial post-qualification experience working with children and young people.
• Understanding of mental health legislation and guidelines.
• Experience in community settings and CAMHS.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment and treatment to young people with mental health needs.
• Work collaboratively within the MDT.
• Conduct screening assessments for newly arrived young people.

Skills

Assessment and treatment

Multidisciplinary team working

Inter-agency liaison

Communication skills

Education

Relevant professional qualification (nursing, psychology, psychotherapy)

Post-graduate qualification in mental health

Job description

Mental Health Practitioner

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust

The closing date is 05 December 2025

My name is James Hussain, I am the Team Manager for SecureCAMHS.

I am seeking a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner to join our secure CAMHS team at Adel Beck Secure Children's home. There will be an opportunity to build therapeutic relationships with young people to assess risk and mental health needs. Liaison, communication and consultation with other professional groups and partner agencies within the home will be necessary to ensure that robust and holistic care plans are established around young people. There will be opportunities to develop and run therapeutic groups and chances to offer trauma‑informed 1:1 interventions, depending on the identified needs of young people. You will be working within an experienced multidisciplinary team and under a supportive operational and clinical leadership team.

Secure CAMHS operates Monday – Friday, 8am‑8pm (12‑hour period). Weekend on‑call service will be part of this role provided by clinicians within the secure estate (this could be telephone, video or face‑to‑face as clinically indicated).

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID‑19 to protect patients.

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.

Main duties of the job

Adel Beck is a 24‑bedged secure children’s home, home to young people aged 10‑18, remanded or sentenced by the criminal courts, or accommodated for their own welfare.

This role is a unique opportunity to drive change across a setting that provides care for the most disenfranchised young people in the UK. The role links closely with Residential Practitioners, who provide care for the young people residing within the home. Highlighting the importance of integration across the service, this role is vital in supporting and educating other team members on trauma experienced by our young people. The role requires a values‑led practitioner, who is truly curious and motivated to work across systemic barriers through inter‑agency working.

Part of your role will be to offer screening assessments for young people who are newly arrived at the home, and you will attend meetings held by the home, for example to review young people’s risk to self or others.

You will provide person‑centred assessment of their mental health needs and risk, in addition to screening for neuro‑developmental needs. You will be part of a supportive multidisciplinary team within which you can seek support to establish a plan of care and intervention for young people.

You will need to have a professional registration for this role, equivalent to HCPC, NMC, SWE.

Please call if you have any questions and we encourage a visit to the service, if you are offered an interview.

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 are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we are 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

JOB SUMMARY

The post‑holder will:

• Provide assessment and treatment to children and young people with mental health needs.
• Work autonomously and collaboratively within the MDT, providing consultation for other agencies/professionals.
• Work as part of CAMHS first on‑call rota.
• Promote the safeguarding and welfare of children and young people.
• Provide routine and urgent assessment and interventions to young people with a wide range of emotional and psychological problems referred to specialist CAMHS, in keeping with evidence‑based practice with supervision from a senior clinician.

KEY RESULT AREAS

• Support the ongoing process of delivering a comprehensive CAMHS system.
• Provide assessment, interventions, therapy to children and young people with the most severe, complex and persistent mental health problems, including those at suicidal risk and where appropriate, families as both an autonomous practitioner and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Apply a sound knowledge of safeguarding children and guidelines in clinical work.
• Commit to a quality approach for patient care.
• Demonstrate high levels of concentration and provide sustained effort in assessment of complex family issues.
• Manage own caseload, accessing support and guidance appropriate to individual need.
• Operate within the clinical and case management supervision framework.
• Provide training, consultation and supervision to other service providers, partner agencies and junior members of staff as required regarding intensive interventions.
• Participate in the development, audit and review of this extension to existing service provision.
• Undertake extended hours of work alongside fellow specialist CAMHS practitioners.
• Work collaboratively with all services to provide coherent and coordinated mental health services for children and young people.
• Use a range of information technology systems (including Rio and System One) ensuring high quality data is collected appropriately, kept securely and confidentially.
• Participate in an agreed clinical audit programme for the service and ensure lessons learned from both audit and clinical incidents are reported.
• Comply with both clinical and corporate governance frameworks.
• Support the engagement of service stakeholders and users in the development and monitoring of service delivery and identify opportunities for service improvement and redesign.
• Actively promote user/carer involvement in all aspects of care planning/delivery while respecting the rights, capabilities and wishes of the individuals concerned.
• Work in an innovative and child, young person and family‑centred way, in a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
• Apply Trust policies and procedures in instances of aggression, acute distress and disturbed mental health presentations.
• Maintain relevant professional registration.
• Identify and communicate any concerns through the relevant management processes.
• Demonstrate continued practice development and engage in annual appraisal.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI‑generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we 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.

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 in patient provision.
• Experience of liaison between different levels of CAMHS.
• A grasp of relevant legislation and guidance e.g. NHS plan, Mental Health Legislation, Children Act, Education Act, Working Together, Children’s NSF, Every Child Matters, etc.
• Clinical/therapeutic knowledge and skills re mental health and behavioural problems including assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence‑based practice.
• Understanding of research methodology and audit.
• Proven ability to work with other disciplines and in partnership with other organisations including service users.
• Experience of community settings.
• Previous experience in working in a CAMH setting.

Training

• Training and experience relating to specialist CAMHS.

Special Knowledge & Skills

• Good verbal and communication skills.
• Good negotiation skills, and problem solving skills.
• Report writing skills.
• 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.

Qualifications

• Relevant professional qualification e.g. nursing, psychologist, psychotherapist, family therapist, or other allied health professional.
• Ongoing professional development supervision and/or mentorship.
• Membership of professional bodies.
• Post‑graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).

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.
• 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.
• 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