Senior Mental Health Practitioner

NHS; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's healthcare provider in Liverpool is seeking a qualified Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join their CAMHS team. The ideal candidate will have substantial experience working with children and young people, possess relevant qualifications, and demonstrate expertise in mental health assessments and therapeutic interventions. This position involves providing clinical support and working collaboratively with families and professionals to ensure effective care delivery. Competitive benefits and opportunities for professional development included.

Benefits

Professional development opportunities

Supportive working environment

Qualifications

• Substantial experience of working with children and young people.
• Experience in providing risk assessments and case management supervision.
• Accredited therapeutic training.

Responsibilities

• Undertake mental health assessments of children referred to the CAMHS Service.
• Provide evidence-based clinical interventions.
• Support families/carers and other professionals.

Skills

Mental health assessment

Therapeutic interventions

Collaboration with agencies

Cultural sensitivity

Effective communication

Education

Qualified in core profession (HCPC registered or equivalent)

Post graduate level study

Job description

Go back Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 06 January 2026

Right to work: We actively promote diversity and inclusion. This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the Health and Care route. We recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. VisitHealth and Care Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK

This is an great opportunity for a mental health practitioner specialising in supporting children and young people to join the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

The Mental Health Practitioner will be a member of the specialist, multi-disciplinary service and will have case management responsibility for their case load, however, they will be supported through supervision by a senior member of the team on a regular basis.

The post holder will provide a range of appropriate, evidence based clinical interventions informed by assessed individual need. The post holder may be required to provide support, advice and consultation to families/carers and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person.

We expect applicants to have substantial experience of working with children and young people. Further training in positive behaviour support would be an advantage.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will undertake appropriate mental health assessment of children and young people referred to CAMHS Service Group and provide a range of appropriate, evidence based clinical interventions informed by assessed individual need.

The post holder will provide support, advice and consultation to families/carers and other professionals involved in the life of the child/young person.

About us

Alder Hey has already earned our place as one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, thanks to innovation and pioneering medical work. We treat 250,000 young patients a year and have a broad range of hospital and community services, serving the local population of children, as well as being a tertiary referral centre for children from across Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of Lancashire, Shropshire and North Wales.

Every individual makes a valuable contribution and Alder Hey is proud of its long history of providing pioneering and innovative healthcare to children and young people. We are looking for motivated and enthusiastic candidates to join our dynamic and experienced CAMHS team.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the job description and person specification for further information about this position.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

• Qualified in core profession such as: HCPC registered Drama Therapist, HCPC registered Art Therapist, HCPC registered Music Therapist, HCPC registered Occupational Therapist, HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist, SWE registered Social Worker, NMC registered Nurse, UKCP registered Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, ACP registered Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, MBACP registered Counsellor
• OR – Recognised degree level broad based health & social care qualification which will require completion of The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Knowledge Skills and Attributes and training in a therapeutic modality
• Accredited therapeutic training
• Pre‑qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of child and adolescent mental health.
• Post graduate (master’s and above) level study

Experience

• Experience of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families.
• Working collaboratively in a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Working collaboratively with other agencies in a variety of venues.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
• Must be experienced in providing risk assessment of self‑harming behaviour.
• Must be experienced in analysing presenting problems and able to demonstrate ability to work autonomously utilising a range of therapeutic perspectives and modalities, depending on the needs of the client.
• Must be experienced in and able to demonstrate ability to provide case management supervision for lower banded CAMHS Workers, students and other service group/team professionals as required.
• Must demonstrate ability to be self‑reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately. Must be able to demonstrate ability to develop and evaluate consultation and training to other professionals and to staff groups.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience of the application of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with children and young people in a range of clinical settings.

Knowledge

• Some knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of the evidence base in their practice.
• Must demonstrate understanding of child development and psychosocial influences.
• Must demonstrate a working understanding of systemic, psychodynamic and cognitive theories along with recognition of when each approach is appropriate.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of audit and evaluation methodology.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of research methodology.
• Must demonstrate an understanding of current government initiatives underpinning service developments. Must demonstrate strong organisational skills.
• Must be able to demonstrate the ability to manage aspects of service development in line with government initiatives.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised therapies/interventions.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of child and adolescent mental health.

Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well‑developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non‑professional groups.
• Must demonstrate ability to autonomously manage own workload balance.

Personal Attributes

• Must demonstrate a commitment to the overall vision of the development of the professional group of CAMHS Workers.
• Must demonstrate utilisation of professional development planning in own career progression.
• Must show enthusiasm and appreciation for multi‑disciplinary and multi‑agency working.
• Must demonstrate a professional manner.
• Must demonstrate a high level of communication skills commensurate with the nature of clinical and professional contacts required of the post.
• Accountable for own professional actions.
• Works within professional ethics and Trust policies.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

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.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust