Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Youth Justice Service

Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Exeter; On-site; GBP 37,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Devon Partnership NHS Trust seeks a Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join the Devon Youth Justice team, providing high-quality support to children and young people with complex mental health needs. The role requires expertise in mental health care, teamwork, and collaboration with various agencies to ensure the best outcomes for clients in a community setting.

Qualifications

• Experience in managing complex caseloads for children and young people.
• Knowledge of child protection procedures and mental health development.
• Professional registration/accreditation with NMC, HCPC, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high-quality care and evidence-based treatment to children and young people.
• Work collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team and external agencies.
• Adapt communication styles to meet individual needs of clients.

Skills

Communication

Empathy

Crisis management

Teamwork

Education

Professional qualification in Nursing, Social Work, or Occupational Therapy

Job description

Location: Exeter, EX4 4DN&Barnstaple, EX31 3UD
Salary: £37338.00 to £44962.00
Date posted: 23rd June 2025
Closing date: 13th July 2025

Child Family Health Devon (CFHD) has developed an innovative, integrated model of childrens community services and are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our friendly and dedicated pathways. Come and join us in beautiful Devon!

You will join a strong, enthusiastic and supportive group of professionals who will be your peers, your phone a friend network and your inspiring colleagues. This brings professional collaboration that will be an asset to your daily work, development, and support network.

Do you have an interest in working with children and young people in the youth justice service?Are you interested in working with young people together with multi-agency colleagues using a Child First approach to create positive outcomes?

We are looking for a Band 6 Senior Mental HealthPractitioner to be a key member of the Devon Youth Justice team. You will also link with and havesupport from the small team of wider Devon Youth Justice practitioners.

You will use your skills and experience as a mentalhealth practitioner to deliver high-quality care, develop and sustain relationshipsacross agencies and work as a core member of the Youth Justice multi-agency anddisciplinary team.

You will beresponsible for providing therapeutic intervention that is strengths-focused,evidence-based and tailored to meet the needs of the child/young person andtheir family/carer.

Main duties of the job

You will be an experienced and qualified CAMHSprofessional (RMN, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist) with experience of working with children and young peoplewith complex needs.

You will have a particular interest to supportyoung people who require mentalhealth support within the criminal justice system. You will be able to workalongside colleagues in a multi-disciplinary team and develop strong workingrelationships across agencies to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children,young people and their carers/families. The ability to adapt communication andintervention style to meet individual need is important and you will haveknowledge of child development and child protection procedures.

Assessing and managing multiple risks and beingable to assess mental health presentations in the community is a core part ofthis role, responding to both urgent and routine, planned and unplanned need.You will be required to work flexibly across a range of clinical, community andhome-based settings to meet the needs of the child/young person. You will bepatient and tolerant and able to connect with children and young people who maydemonstrate complex social and emotional connections.

We are looking forindividuals who are passionate about working with children/ young people in thecommunity with the confidence to intervene to meet a range of mental healthneeds and a desire to work with others to continually improve what we do.

About us

Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon.

CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services, based on the i-Thrive Framework.

CFHD works closely with our local universities of Plymouth, Exeter & the Peninsula Medical School where we support students in clinical training placements and in addition support our own staff to undertake post graduate training.

Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the job description attached to this advert which will provide further information on this role.

The post holder will deliver high quality comprehensive mental health services. The role involves managing a defined caseload with a focus on providing expert assessment and evidence-based treatment for children and young people with complex mental health difficulties and their parents/carers. Collaborative working with a wide range of statutory and non-statutory agencies is central to this role.

The post holder will contribute to the multi-disciplinary approach of the team, providing integrated healthcare for children across Children and Family Health Devon. Bringing professional expertise, skills and knowledge to multi-disciplinary team work, the post holder will work with, and offer supervision/consultation/advice to others. With a focus on providing high quality, safe and compassionate care to children/young people the post holder will engage in team and service development including participating in audit, evaluation and review.

Person Specification

Experience

• Substantial experience of managing an extensive and complex caseload and working with children/young people presenting with a range of complex mental health presentations.
• Working within a community CAMHS mental health setting.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency environment.

Qualifications

• A professional qualification at degree level e.g. Psychological profession, Nursing, Social Work, Occupational Therapy or a professional qualification with significant relevant experience i.e. Diploma of Nursing with relevant experience.
• Professional registration/accreditation with a recognised body, e.g. NMC, HCPC, Social Work England, UKCP, BABCP

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Able to plan creatively to maximise effectiveness of care plans, including complex multi-agency care plans
• An understanding of the Mental Health Act/ Mental Health Capacity Act requirements. Essential Interview
• An understanding of child development

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.