Job Title

Senior Mental Health Practitioner The closing date is 13 February 2026 Please Note: Previous interviewed applicants need not apply. We have an exciting opportunity in Wakefield CAMHS as a Band 7 Senior Mental Health Practitioner. You need to be a registered staff member to apply for this role e.g. Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist. Are you ready to take on a role that is a fastpaced, rewarding role, where you can make a real difference each day? The Responsive Adolescent and Children HomeBased Treatment Team (ReACH) is seeking a dynamic Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join our multidisciplinary team, providing urgent, recoveryfocused support to individuals and their families that are experiencing an acute mental health crisis. This role is fastpaced and rewarding where no two days are the same. You would be expected to work collaboratively with children, young people, families and external agencies to offer intensive homebased assessment, support and treatment. The ReACH Team is the frontline of urgent mental health care, supporting people at their most vulnerable time and helping them stay safe and feel supported in a community setting. As a senior member of the team, you will be expected to lead on complex cases and support staff within the team to manage challenging situations. You will also be expected to attend/lead multiprofessional meetings to ensure collaborative risk assessments and care plans are in place. The service runs 7days per week and on a shift basis of long days (no night shifts). Main duties of the job Assessing children and young people in a variety of setting (e.g. Accident and Emergency Department, home visits, schools). Working with families and carers to implement safety plans and collaborative care plans. Undertaking risk assessments and reviewing risk documentation. Allocated as lead clinician on young people on your caseload to implement homebased treatment. Support staff in the team and offer clinical supervision. Support with delivering training and guidance to the team. Referrals to internal and external agencies for young people and families. Taking on the role as shift coordinator. Delivering therapeutic intervention over a short period to children and young people. Submitting safeguarding referrals where required. Leading on support for those young people who have been recently discharged from an inpatient unit. Attending professionals meetings. All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their uptodate flu vaccination to protect staff and patients. At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application. About us We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative. Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing highquality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and nonclinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers. We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities. Be a foundation Trust means we are accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust. Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment. We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible. Job responsibilities JOB SUMMARY This job description is an outline of the main duties of the post. The postholder will be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the grade as directed. The content of this post will be reviewed in consultation with the postholder when necessary and in line with the service developments. To provide highly specialist skills and expertise, facilitating interventions of the highest quality in the field of mental health, including emergency assessments and intensive interventions with children, young people and their families. To work autonomously and collaboratively within the MDT, providing consultation and teaching for other agencies/professionals. To provide supervision and teaching to all other disciplines within CAMHS and to deputise as agreed for the team leader. To promote safeguarding and the welfare of children and young people. KEY RESULT AREAS: CLINICAL 1To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility in accordance with the Trust Policies and procedures. 2The postholder will have highly developed skills in assessing the needs of children and their carers based on the analysis of highly complex facts and situations. Interventions will be planned based on the assessment information and interpretation of this. The clinical assessment will include gathering appropriate historical information from the child and family, allied to clinical observation of family relationships and mental state of the child and other family members, and obtaining relevant information from other agencies. Offering highly specialist expertise in child and adolescent mental health, ensuring clear documentation in all appropriate case notes and sharing assessments and information with the family and all relevant professionals. 3To undertake highly specialist initial assessments of young people following acts of serious selfharm and attempted suicide in line with evidence based practice. 4To undertake highly specialised risk assessments following referral for presentations requiring urgent mental health or psychiatric assessment and plan relevant interventions. 5To implement intensive interventions with young people and their families, as relevant to the postholders main clinical role, i.e. group and individual work, systemic family interventions. This will include analysis, interpretation and evaluation to reformulate plans of care. 6The postholder will provide therapeutic care to emotionally demanding clients in highly emotive situations. 7The postholder will develop and maintain therapeutic relationships with children and carers. This will include cases of high complexity which require more specialised levels of assessment and therapeutic skills. 8As part of multidisciplinary team, the Senior Mental Health Practitioner will deliver and devise complex packages of care. Provide individual and family review/followup sessions to children, young people or their carers. 9To take a lead role in setting guidelines and standards that will ensure all young persons identified with complex problems are discharged from Specialist CAMHS with an appropriate package of care from universal services. 10The postholder will have skills to communicate highly complex information regarding personal psychosocial problems in an empathic and supportive way using the highest level of interpersonal skills in situations which can be highly emotional and sometimes antagonistic. Service users and families may have difficulty or be reluctant to understand what is communicated to them. 11Communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information utilising highly developed interpersonal skills. Take into account issues of confidentiality and the consent of Adults and Young People. Considering and assessing a childs maturity to consent. 12To work with children, young people (018) and their families, liaising with external agencies, e.g. Education, Social Services and Paediatric Services. Presenting problems are frequently complex and require that sophisticated packages of care are negotiated and delivered. To actively promote user/carer involvement in all aspects of care planning/delivery whilst respecting the rights, capabilities and wishes of the individuals concerned. 13To apply a sound knowledge of safeguarding children and guidelines in clinical work. 14To deputise for the team leader in his/her absence. 15Apply Trust policies and procedures in instances of aggression, acute distress and disturbed mental health presentations. HUMAN RESOURCES 1The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will take the responsibility in developing, managing and coordinating the supervision systems for the team. 2The postholder will support other team members in managing cases, providing joint working where appropriate on specific therapeutic techniques. 3To manage and coordinate rotas for all disciplines within CAMHS specific to their own area of specialism. 4To support the Clinical Governance Lead within the service and participate in the development and maintenance of governance processes, i.e. clinical incident reporting, risk management. 5Contribute to the induction of new starters in the service. 6Responsible for first line resolution of complaints in line with Trust policy. 7Responsible for budgetary requirement of equipment necessary for clinical interventions. For full job description, please see attached supporting documents. We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form. Person Specification Experience Experience of delivering training to others. Substantial post qualification experience, some of which must be working with Children, young people and their carers in a mental health or other complex care setting. Experience of working in different cultural contexts. Knowledge and experience of working with Equality and Diversity. Multidisciplinary team working. Interagency liaison and consultation. Experience of providing highly specialist advice and supervision to other professionals. Knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance for working with children, young people, mental health and safeguarding. Evidence of advanced clinical/therapeutic knowledge and skills in mental health. Extensive experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence based practice. Advanced experience of safeguarding children and young people. Experience of community settings. Physical Attributes Ability to undertake the duties and demands of the post. A satisfactory sickness record over the previous 2 years (subject to the need to act with fairness and equality of opportunity, particularly where the sickness is related to a disability and/or pregnancy). Qualifications Relevant professional qualification, e.g. nursing, or other professional allied to medicine. Post qualification training in identified portfolio, e.g. LD. LAC, eating disorder. Dip SW or relevant mental health profession. A teaching and assessing qualification. Membership of professional body. Postgraduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling). Special Knowledge & Skills Excellent verbal and communication skills. Ability to manage own caseload and to be a selfreliant and autonomous practitioner. Excellent negotiation skills, and problem solving skills. Excellent record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments. Personal Attributes Able to work autonomously and as part of a team. Commitment to multiagency approach/working. Ability to work and make decisions under pressure. Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive. Ability to make and lead decisions under pressure/crisis situations. Willingness to be flexible and adaptable in accordance with changing service priorities. Commitment to challenging discrimination and improving accessibility of services. Ability to cope calmly in a crisis. To demonstrate good selfcare and encourage the same in team members. A Current driving licence and access to a car during the working day is essential (reasonable adjustments will be considered for any applicants who are unable to drive due to a disability). To have integrity, be honest, open, transparent and respectful. 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. South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust #J-18808-Ljbffr