Youth Justice Service Practitioner CAMHS Band 7

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 4,000 - 6,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS healthcare provider in Greater London seeks an experienced Youth Justice Service CAMHS Practitioner to join a dynamic team focused on delivering high-quality mental health services to young people. This role requires a qualified mental health professional with experience in CAMHS. The successful candidate will provide specialist mental health advice, assess needs, and support families in a fast-paced environment. Competitive benefits and the opportunity to work within a supportive culture are offered.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Employee assistance programme

Health and wellbeing support

Qualifications

• Must be a qualified and professionally registered mental health professional (RMN/RGN, Psychologist, etc.).
• Substantive experience in a child mental health setting.
• Advanced knowledge of child protection issues.

Responsibilities

• Deliver specialist mental health advice and health promotion.
• Assess and support children and families within the Youth Justice Service.
• Function autonomously while supporting junior staff.

Skills

Communication

Mental Health Knowledge

Analytical Skills

Team Collaboration

Education

Professional registration as a mental health professional

Job description

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award‑winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video.

Job overview

We are seeking an experienced Youth Justice Service CAMHS Practitioner to join our busy and dynamic CAMHS team in Barking and have a growing and supportive team. We are looking for someone who is passionate about young people’s mental health and well‑being to join us in the delivery of high quality and effective CAMHS. The post‑holder must be a qualified and professionally registered mental health professional (RMN/RGN, Practitioner Psychologist, social worker, child psychotherapist, family therapist and ideally dual‑qualified) with experience in CAMHS.

Main duties of the job

You will be responsible for the delivery of specialist mental health advice and health promotion relating to mental health; as well as undertaking of health assessment of children and their families living within Barking and Dagenham, open to the Youth Justice Service which should include review of their physical health and supporting them to access appropriate treatment accordingly.

The role requires you to function autonomously, whilst being a support and resource to less experienced members of staff from the partner agencies within the YJS. You must be able to assess patients, carry out relevant tests, and arrange follow‑up whilst offering advice and information. You must be able to demonstrate critical thinking skills in clinical decision making.

You will be required to have the ability to work effectively as part of a multi‑professional team within a fast‑paced environment, in line with local and national policy and process.

Working for our organisation

Our Values 2025 – 2030

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT places a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undergo a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop‑in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,714 and a maximum payment of £5,941 – per annum, pro rata for part time).

Use of AI

Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Maintaining efficient systems for client records by creating and maintaining clinical notes, care plans and risk assessments.
• Participating in MDT discussions and offering expert advice relating to fields such as mental health and health promotion.
• Liaising with the line manager regularly, and as soon as possible notifying him/her of any difficulties/problems.
• Undertaking the supervision and offering support to more junior staff.
• Ensuring own knowledge of referral pathways to other agencies TIGER, youth service and being able to refer or signpost clients as appropriate.
• Practising in accordance with NELFT policies and protocols and ensuring that staff working in their clinic area are aware of current policies and procedures.
• Discussing, informing and advising clients on any issues relating to general health, smoking cessation, pregnancy, sexual health, substance misuse or their social situation and referring to the appropriate agency as necessary.
• Ensuring that you undertake effective assessment of child protection and safeguarding issues and raising alerts when necessary and feeding into safeguarding meeting and care plans.
• Attending regular staff meetings with the CAMHS and YJS teams and pathway leaders and being able to disseminate new information, and service developments.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points‑based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High‑Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Professional registration as Practitioner Psychologist, Child Psychotherapist, CBT Therapist, Family Therapist, Social Worker or Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Registered General Nurse.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantive experience of practice within a child mental health setting in the statutory or volunteer sector.
• Experience and knowledge around the delivery of public health initiatives.
• Experience of working with partnership agencies.
• Experience of delivering health promotion to young people and their families.
• Experience of and advanced knowledge of child protection issues and process.
• Experience of providing guidance and supervision to other staff members and working within an MDT.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An in‑depth understanding of mental health disorders and its effects on the child and their family.
• A detailed understanding of the treatment of mental health disorders, both medical and therapeutic interventions.
• A good understanding of health promotion and its importance within the YJS.
• Clear understanding of how to deliver health promotion and monitoring within the community.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Communication and relationship skills of the highest level where complex formulations need to be developed and explained.
• Capacity to implement policy and to proactively contribute to their development in the wider service.
• Ability to work within a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Well‑developed skills to communicate effectively, orally and in writing at a highly technical and /or clinically sensitive level to service users and professionals within and outside the NHS in line with confidentiality and safeguarding protocols.
• Ability to work with a racially and culturally diverse community in a wide variety of contexts.
• Must be capable of professional autonomy holding full case responsibility, being accountable for own professional actions.

Benefits

• A long‑standing and award‑winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long‑term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effort to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.