Senior Mental Health Practitioner SPA Team, Melksham

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Melksham; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner for maternity cover in Melksham. The role involves delivering consultations and working collaboratively within a dynamic team, supporting the mental health needs of children and young people. Opportunities for professional development and a supportive work environment emphasize our commitment to excellent care.

Benefits

27 days annual leave, rising to 33 with service

NHS Discounts

Lease car scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Mental Health First Aiders

Staff accommodation available

Qualifications

• Qualified as SW, OT, or Nurse is essential.
• Experience in mental health settings, especially with young people.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development required.

Responsibilities

• Deliver phone/virtual consultations to assess mental health needs.
• Compile and maintain accurate treatment records.
• Participate in clinical meetings and case discussions.

Skills

Communication

Interpersonal Skills

Organizational Skills

Calm under pressure

Education

Mental Health or equivalent professional health qualification

Leadership training

Tools

Excel

Word

Job description

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Client:

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

Melksham, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

ffdaf0b221d7

Job Views:

7

Posted:

22.06.2025

Expiry Date:

06.08.2025

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Job Description:

Job overview

We are seeking a Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner (must be a qualified SW, OT or Nurse) to provide maternity leave cover on a fixed term basis. This is an exciting role if wanting to try something different for a limited time, you never know you might want to stay!

The CAMHS SPA is a centralised service to support enquiries and referrals for Children and Young People across BaNES and Wiltshire CAMHS.

The service is the first point of contact for all new referrals and enquiries; we support self, parent/carer and professional referrals. Our robust system of working ensures all contact is reviewed clinically and timely to ensure the appropriate support is offered at the right time by the right service.

As a member of the team, you would be supported by a dynamic and enthusiastic team who are passionate about meeting the needs of children, young people and parents/carers. The role requires working alongside our colleagues in the core CAMHS team, other professionals in wider CAMHS and those external to the service.

The SPA team is based in at Melksham Hospital in Wiltshire; adopting a hybrid model of working to balance regular face to face contact with SPA team members.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be delivering phone/virtual consultations to children and young people, parent/carers and professionals with the aim to gather more information to understand their mental health needs and risk, to determine the appropriate support whether this be within CAMHS or best met by another agency.

We will need you to possess excellent interpersonal/communication skills; be calm and organised to embrace the changes that can occur in the SPA. You will need to be efficient in completing documentation and have a sound working knowledge of Excel and Word. Whilst the role can be challenging, the support and experience you will be surrounded with creates a safe positive working environment.

We embrace learning from our colleagues via regular training and supervision to contribute to our up to date knowledge. The role also provides virtual consultation to secondary schools/colleges in Wiltshire and school nurses in BaNES & Wiltshire.

As a trust all staff are required to undertake 4-6 weekly clinical and managerial supervision; as a team we have implemented monthly peer supervision to actively learn from one another; along with adherence to structured quarterly safeguarding supervision. Also, importantly we value our own wellbeing; we do this by engaging in regular team wellbeing activities to allow the time to pause and enjoy coming together as a team.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive:“Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are:“Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

In the SPA you will have variation across the week, consistently supported clinically and administratively to ensure we are responsive and work within specified time frames.

A comprehensive induction programme, which will include a range of shadowing opportunities to fully support you in understanding and delivering the role.

·BSW we have a strong commitment to staff development and progression; we have developed a comprehensive CAMHS specific training programme for all staff at all levels.

·Multiple internal trainings relevant to CAMHS, linkage with external trainings funded through HEE.

·Managers work closely with all staff to ensure they have the right trainings to enable them to confidently and competently deliver high standard interventions to CYP.

·You will be encouraged and supported to access all training appropriate to the role to support you to confidently and competently deliver high standard interventions to children and young people. This will also be supported via engagement in yearly PDR’s which is valued activity in the trust.

You will be required:

1. To provide SPA support through an individualised job plan to cover the needs of the service.

2. To provide phone and digital consultations to CYP, parent/carers and professionals to assess the current mental health presentation and additional wider needs to consider the most appropriate pathway of support.

3. To utilise the internal network of CAMHS professional knowledge and expertise to support clinician decision making

4. When required, triage/screen referrals with the support of a senior clinician.

5. To participate in clinical meetings, case discussions and professional meetings as required.

6. To compile letters, written reports as required and to generate and maintain accurate treatment records.

7. To monitor and evaluate the service provision and support the provision of reports as required.

9. Provide virtual consultations to education and school nursing team to consider emotional wellbeing needs of students.

10. Support junior staff and students.

11. Offer a ‘can do’ and adaptable approach to working in the SPA and embrace the team culture we thrive on.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Mental Health or equivalent professional health qualification e.g. OT, RMN NURSE, SOCIAL WORKER
• Leadership training

Experience

• Post qualification experience in a mental health setting, which includes working with young people with mental health needs.
• Experience of mentoring and clinical supervision of others
• Evidence of delivering mental state examination and risk assessment to inform pathways of care.
• Experience of working with children and young people who present with Neurodiversity.
• Experience of trauma informed approach to your work

Knowledge

• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Understanding of the legal and social policy issues influencing the work environment.
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing