Specialist CAMHS Practitioner

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 56,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization seeks a Specialist CAMHS Practitioner for Maternity cover in Greater London. Responsibilities include conducting specialist assessments and providing interventions for children with mental health problems. Candidates should have experience in Learning Disabilities, knowledge of assessments, and a strong multidisciplinary approach. This role offers competitive salary and opportunities for clinical supervision and professional growth.

Qualifications

• Previous experience working in CAMHS or Adult Services for Autism/Learning Disabilities.
• Experience working in culturally diverse Inner-city areas.
• Specific experience in LD and ASD assessment and treatment protocols.

Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive specialist assessments for children and young people with mental health issues.
• Formulate positive behaviour plans in collaboration with other agencies.
• Conduct assessments in various settings, including clinics.

Skills

Specialist clinical skills for assessment and treatment of Mental health in Learning Disabilities and ASD

Emergency and crisis assessment skills

Teaching skills

Education

Registered Nurse in Learning Disabilities or equivalent

Postgraduate training in autism

Job description

Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist CAMHS Practitioner – LD (Maternity cover)

The closing date is 02 February 2026

Westminster CAMHS are looking for a fixed‑term Maternity Leave cover CAMHS Practitioner to join our friendly, supportive, and experienced multi‑disciplinary specialist mental health service. We are looking for an enthusiastic and skilled clinician to provide LD and neurodevelopmental knowledge and specialist support to the Neurodevelopmental and wider team. The Westminster CAMHS neurodevelopmental team offer diagnostic assessments for autism and ADHD, initial intake assessments, and interventions (psychological, behavioural, family therapy, art therapy, and pharmacological). Each clinician in the team has a wide variety of presentations in their caseload, including young people with ASD, ADHD, LD, or a combination of these diagnoses.

They should maintain clinical curiosity and engage in reflective practice as well as be able to be an advocate for children, young people and families' needs. Previous experience within CAMHS‑LD (particularly with safeguarding, risk and Positive Behavioural Support [PBS]) would be helpful.

Westminster CAMHS NDT team is set up to provide specialist assessment and consultation to children and young people with moderate to severe Neurodevelopmental needs, including LD/intellectual disabilities and their families and carers. The successful candidate will be expected to hold an ND caseload, provide Initial Assessments, be part of MDT discussions and provide LD consultations. An added benefit would be existing training in ADOS and/or 3‑Di assessments.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide generic CAMHS and specialist CAMHS assessments (such as, initial neurodevelopmental assessments, autism assessments, and ADHD assessments) and interventions to children and young people. Autism and ADHD assessments include MDT discussions of diagnostic outcome. Specialist CAMHS assessments will involve undertaking direct assessment and intervention with the client and indirect assessment, monitoring and intervention with staff and/or carers. The post holder will work autonomously alongside clients, families, support workers and professionals to enable others to better understand and respond to behaviours that are challenging. The post holder will require a high degree of professional autonomy and self‑management and will be required to account for their professional practice through supervision, appraisal and audit.

About us

Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust is a prominent mental health trust offering high quality children's mental health services across 5 boroughs of London. The Trust supports staff wellbeing, reflective practice and monthly team reflective groups in CAMHS teams.

Westminster CAMHS has a strong multi‑disciplinary approach and thrives on innovative practice to meet the local population needs. This post provides an excellent opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in clinical practice and leadership via regular clinical supervision, being part of Quality Improvement (QI) projects, CPD opportunities as well as multi‑disciplinary working within an experienced wider service of Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Nurses, Child Wellbeing Practitioners, Psychiatrists and Clinical / Counselling Psychologists.

As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Job responsibilities

To provide comprehensive specialist assessments, including risk assessment of children, young people and their families/carers referred with moderate, complex and severe mental health problems/behaviours. Use a range of assessment techniques including observations, standard measures and questionnaires, direct work and interviews with parents and professionals in order to collate information required to complete a functional analysis assessment. Formulate and be responsible for implementing in partnership with other agencies working with the child/young person a positive behaviour plan/intervention. Communicate in a sensitive manner assessment outcomes/formulations and positive behaviour support plans. Evaluate the implementation and impact of the intervention. Write confidential behavioural support plans, reports for case conferences, and education that may have wide ranging implications for children, young people and their families. Be available to carry out urgent assessments. Assessments and interventions will be conducted in clinic settings. Undertake other psychological and/or diagnostic assessments (i.e. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule‑2, or cognitive assessments) and interventions if required and appropriate. Provide consultation and appropriate training to other professionals working with the children referred to the service in order to ensure implementation of behavioural support plans. Liaise with and where appropriate participate in joint work with other members of the Learning Disabilities Pathway in Westminster CAMHS Learning Disabilities team. Act as care coordinator for an identified caseload and be responsible for the coordination of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of therapeutic packages of care provided by the multidisciplinary team. Act as care coordinator in accordance with CPA guidelines within the CAMHS community setting. Ensure that the needs of the client group is paramount and be aware of and adhere to NICE Guidelines relating to Child Protection. Ensure acceptable levels of safety (regarding potential verbal and physical aggression from disturbed clients) for self and advise other colleagues when necessary. Adhere to the lone worker policy and update training in breakaway techniques when necessary. Maintain accurate clinical records in accordance with service standards and record and maintain patient data in local database systems (System 1) and the trust‑wide electronic database.

Person Specification

Education, Training and Qualifications

• Registered Nurse in Learning Disabilities or Postgraduate training in autism and Challenging behaviour (e.g. ABA diploma, IABA extended course, post‑grad certificate in autism, MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis or Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical/counselling Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) & Registration with HCPC or Bachelor/Post‑graduate Diploma/ MSc in Speech & Language Therapy with registration with HCPC and membership of RCSLT or Art Therapies with registration with HCPC Training in Positive Behaviour Support or Applied Behavioural Analysis

Experience

• Previous experience of working in CAMHS or experience in Adult Services for Autism/ Learning Disability with clear evidence of transferrable skills
• Experience of group‑work
• Experience of working with a wide range of learning disabilities and mental health problems
• Experience of care planning
• Experience of working in a culturally diverse Inner‑city area
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary way
• Experience in crisis work
• Specific experience in LD and ASD assessment and treatment protocols
• Experience in assessment and interventions using the PBS framework/ Applied Behavioural Analysis
• Training in diagnostic assessments (i.e. ADOS2 and/or 3DI)
• Experience of specialist assessments and treatments for LD/ ASD and behaviours that challenge
• Experience in delivering interventions in patients' homes
• Experience of supervising others

Skills and Abilities

• Specialist clinical skills for the assessment and treatment of Mental health in Learning Disabilities and ASD
• Evidence of well developed clinical skills and knowledge in CAMHS
• Teaching skills, both in clinical setting and education centres
• Skilled in emergency and crisis assessments
• Able to manage own time and caseload
• Specific trainings in LD and ASD assessment and treatment protocols

Knowledge

• Awareness of current national guidelines and policies in the field of CAMHS
• Knowledge of legislation and its implication for clinical practice in relation to children, young people and their families
• A developed knowledge of LD and ASD as well as issues related to assessment and interventions for this population
• A working knowledge of Child Protection Guidelines
• Knowledge of specific inner‑city issues which impact care delivery

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.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

£56,276 to £63,176 a yearper annum incl. HCAS [Pro rata if PT]