Senior Camhs Practitioner

Nelft Nhs Foundation Trust; Colchester; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a professionally qualified CAMHS clinician who is registered with an appropriate regulatory body and has relevant mental health or psychological therapy training. This role is based in Colchester and requires a commitment to high-quality care under Agenda for Change.

As part of SET CAMHS you will provide clinical leadership, contribute to service development, governance, and evidence-based practice, and deliver assessments and interventions to children,

Qualifications

• Must be professionally qualified and registered with an appropriate regulatory or professional body.
• Relevant mental health and/or psychological therapy training required.

Responsibilities

• Provide autonomous, registered clinical leadership within SET CAMHS.
• Lead in interpreting assessments and formulat­ing treatment plans with multidisciplinary teams.
• Promote integrated health/care working with internal and external partners.
• Participate in audits and clinical governance activities.
• Deliver evidence-based interventions for children and young people with complex needs.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Integrated health/care collaboration

Conflict resolution

Audit & governance

Evidence-based practice

Education

Registered with a regulatory body (e.g., HCPC, BABCP)

Job description

Job summary

The post holder must be professionally qualified and registered with an appropriate regulatory or professional body, with relevant mental health and/or psychological therapy training.

Main duties of the job

Leadership 1. The post-holder will provide clinical leadership within the sphere of their professional expertise 2. To actively promote integrated health/care professional working internally and externally 3. To facilitate the development of a positive and supportive team culture by taking responsibility for dealing effectively with potential conflict 4. To take an active interest in working parties and groups within the Trust to develop and improve on service delivery, protocols and guidelines 5. To participate in the audit process, linking in with the clinical governance 6. To advise, encourage and share knowledge utilising the latest research and practice development, through literature and peer reviews 7. They will ensure that a high quality, timely, accessible and evidence-based service is available to all service users who need it and who use it across SET CAMHS.

About us

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex. We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.

Details

Date posted: 21 October 2026

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 7

Salary: £49,397 to £56,515 a year

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time

Reference number: SET-3EL-002378

Job locations: SET-CAMHS, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3WG, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Clinical Skills

• To act as an autonomous professional fully registered with the appropriate professional or regulatory body (e.g. HCPC, ACP AFT, RMN, BABCP).
• To use an expert clinical understanding in assessing, jointly with colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team, children, adolescents and their families in order to formulate their strengths and difficulties and to determine the most appropriate treatment plan
• To work alongside other colleagues in SET CAMHS and in the care pathway in order to provide an in-depth comprehensive assessment of the child's, young person's, and family's functioning where there is a constellation of high dysfunction and entrenched difficulties in the family. To clinically lead this process in the SET CAMHS team
• To provide therapeutic interventions with due regard to issues of cultural, racial and religious difference and sexual orientation
• To provide highly specialist clinical assessment of children and young people with severe, highly complex and persistent mental health problems
• To undertake specialist observations of children in school settings as part of wider assessments
• To provide expert therapeutic interventions (including parent/child work, group work, parent support input, psycho-education and brief individual work with children and young people) to children and young people with complex mental health difficulties including neurodevelopmental disorders such as autistic spectrum disorders, learning difficulties, ADHD; emotional difficulties, including depression and anxiety states; attachment disorders; conduct disorders, eating disorders; post-traumatic stress disorder; psychosomatic disorders; enuresis/encopresis, aggression, borderline states, self-harming, substance misuse and other behaviour potentially dangerous to the child/young person or others
• To undertake work with parents/carers/networks of referred children and young people
• To utilise theory, literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other members of SET CAMHS.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate's own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.

For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:

Name: Kay-sha Kerr

Job title: Team Manager, SET CAMHS Castle Point, Rochford and Southend

Contact Number: 07967795893

Email: [e-mail]

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Please refer to JD

Desirable

• Please refer to JD

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.

Employer details

Employer name: NELFT North East London Foundation Trust

Employer's website: https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/

The closing date is 04 November 2026. Apply through our website.