Specialist Mental Health Practitioner - Occupational Therapist

Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Dartington, Torquay, Barnstaple; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Devon is seeking a Specialist Mental Health Practitioner and Occupational Therapist. This role involves working with a multi-disciplinary team to provide high-quality assessment and interventions for young people facing eating disorders, offering an opportunity to make a significant impact on their mental health.

Qualifications

• Experience in children's mental health with complex needs.
• Active registration with the HCPC as a registered Occupational Therapist.
• Experience in goal-based care and routine outcome measures.

Responsibilities

• Providing assessment, treatment and intervention to children and families.
• Demonstrating safe clinical decision-making and expert care.
• Working collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team.

Skills

Collaboration

Critical thinking

Compassionate care

Decision-making

Education

Occupational Therapy qualification to degree level

Specialist training or equivalent experience to Masters level

Job description

Specialist Mental Health Practitioner - Occupational Therapist

Location: Exeter, EX2 4NU, Dartington, TQ9 6JE, Torquay, TQ2 7BA&Barnstaple, EX31 3UD
Salary: £46148.00 to £52809.00
Date posted: 30th May 2025
Closing date: 15th June 2025

We areexcited to be advertising for a Specialist Mental Health Practitioner and Occupational Therapist to join our EatingDisorder Pathway

Working alongside colleagues in a multi-disciplinary team,the clinical lead for the service, and the wider senior management team,you will be supported to bring your skills, experience and enthusiasm to thisrole. You will work directly with young people and their families offeringassessment and interventions and work closely with other professionals toprovide supervision and consultation. The work will involve substantial liaisonwith our colleagues in the wider mental health service and paediatric teams in ourlocal hospitals.

We would be really interested to hear from people with arange of backgrounds and experience. We want to build a service that recognisesthe multi-faceted nature of the problems that drive eating disorders andcelebrates the richness that different professional perspectives can bring.supervise and manage others, ensuring the service responds in a timely way tomeet the needs of children, young people and families with complex social,emotional and mental health needs.

Werecognise the value of the specific skills held by our occupational therapycolleagues in contributing to functional assessments across the pathway. Wewould be really keen to hear from people who have an interest in sensoryinterventions.

Main duties of the job

You will beworking as part of a county wide team that provides assessment, treatment andintervention to children, young people and families who present to our servicewith a variety of challenges related to restricted eating.

We are a service going through a process of developmentand growth. Youll need a sense of humour, the ability to work with others anda capacity to offer energy, ideas and leadership. On the wish list isexperience in mental health, eating disorders and working in amulti-disciplinary team to help people change. We are looking for people whohave strong ethical perspectives and the ability to value different approaches

About us

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

CFHDprovides integrated care and treatment for children and young people acrossphysical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South DevonFoundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with otherorganisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide basedintegrated access to all of our services.

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

Our integrated care and treatmenthas been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people andtheir families/carers.

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

Our vision is to be a successful, vibrant,partnership that benefits the communities we serve.

Job responsibilities

Full Vacancy details can be found on the attached Job Description/Person Specification. Please refer to your suitability to the post in your supporting information from the role requirements or person specification.

The post holder will demonstrate courageous and critical thinking and is a caring, compassionate and committed experienced person who, acting within their professional boundaries, will be responsible for the provision of care to the child/young person and their parents/carers.

They will demonstrate safe, competent clinical decision-making and expert care, including assessment, formulation, treatment and evaluation of care in line with NICE guidance and commit to demonstrating critical thinking in the safe clinical decision-making process. They will communicate and work collaboratively with the team to meet the needs of children, young people and their parents/carers, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing clinical supervision and leadership as required.

The post holder will work as a member of the multi professional team by providing an enhanced clinical role to support children, young people and their parents/carers in receiving high quality specialist treatment and where safe and appropriate to do so, support children, young people and their parents/carers in their own homes, working to identify and proactively prevent further deterioration in their psychological wellbeing by delivering a range of therapeutic interventions.

The post holder will work as part of a multi professional team providing a clinical service that is sensitive to the needs of the population and clinical expertise and advice that is supportive to colleagues. The team members will provide comprehensive assessment and formulation to inform appropriate person centred evidenced based treatment plans.

The post holder will contribute to the development and implementation of effective models of care.

Person Specification

Experience

• Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
• Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
• Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for in the area of childrens mental health, with the ability to work with complex needs and undertake risk assessments

Skills

• Ability to travel across Devon

Qualifications

• Professional knowledge acquired through degree supplemented by specialist training or equivalent experience to Masters level with an Occupational Therapy qualification to degree level or equivalent
• Training in an evidence-based therapeutic approach
• Active registration with the HCPC as a registered Occupational Therapist
• Training in supervision and/or leadership skills or willing to work towards
• Evidence of Continuous Professional 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.