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Job summary

Main area
Community CAMHS
Grade
Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
350-CC7492227
Employer
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Birch Unit
Town
St Helens
Salary
£38,682 - £46,580 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
02/10/2025 23:59
Interview date
09/10/2025

Employer heading

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Band 6

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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.

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Job overview

St Helens CAMHS has an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and experienced Mental Health Practitioner to come and join our well-established community team, specialising in Child and Young Person Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) in the St Helens Borough. We are looking to appoint a permanent band 6, senior mental health practitioner.

As part of the role of a senior mental health practitioner, you would be tasked with the duty (referral management), assessments, case management and therapeutic intervention for children and young people (CYP).

St Helens CYPMHS has successfully implemented Thrive and works closely with our multi-agency partners throughout the St Helens borough. This includes working with CSC, education institutes and third-sector organisations, this is an important aspect of our work as we continue to strive for outstanding support for CYP and their families.

This post is subject to an enhanced with children’s and adult’s barred list Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check. We would welcome applications from experienced nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and non-core practitioners with mental health experience.

Main duties of the job

As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, the post holder will provide high standards of evidence based client centred care to children and young people with mental health problems within the THRIVE Framework for service delivery.

You will be expected to manage your own caseload, you will also provide clinical assessment and interventions to children, young people, their families and wider networks with complex mental health needs; in line with the THRIVE Framework.

You will be expected to provide duty (referral management) support for at least one day a week.

Your role will include direct and indirect client work as well as consultation and liaison with other professionals around the specialist clinical area of CYPMHS.  You will be engaged in all levels of clinical responses such as urgent assessments.

You will be expected to work as a member of the CYPMHS Multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

CYPMHS is an exciting area of work that is always evolving with new research and innovation; As the post is identified within the CYPMH strategy, it is expected the role will continue to develop in line with national and local initiatives.

The post holder will embrace the core values of the organisation and adopt the principles of Recovery and THRIVE. These principles will recognise the need to:

 

Promote safe practices

Value the aims of service users

Work in partnership and offer meaningful choice

Be optimistic about the possibilities of meaningful change

Value social inclusion

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

The toll for the Mersey Gateway Bridge will be paid along with regular travel expenses 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL

To review referrals of children, young people and their families, providing risk management and signposting advice were appropriate.

To assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions that are agreed with the child and caregiver in accordance with best practice. Ensure comprehensive risk assessment of children, young people and families and that risk management plans are in place and documented.

To review plans on a regular basis and discuss in clinical supervision any issues that needs addressing.

To liaise with other agencies in terms of information gathering and sharing.

To inform local child protection co-ordinator and senior clinicians of any concerns regarding protection issues.

Use audit/outcome measures to measure change/quality in accordance with Specialist CAMHS procedures.

To organise own caseload and work schedules in agreement with senior practitioners.

To see families/children in the setting most appropriate for effective and efficient care.

Undertake clinical procedures, including the measurement of physical characteristics relevant to their treatment plan e.g. blood pressure, weight etc.

Monitor and record/report effects and side effects of any other prescribed psychotropic medication.

Engage and support service users and carers utilising evidence based psychotherapeutic principles.

Prescribe and deliver evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions.

Act as knowledge resource in specialist area of practice to other team members and other agencies as required.

To ensure co-ordinated service user centred care with a proactive role with other involved professionals.

MANAGERIAL

To be responsible for the supervision and monitoring of caseloads of junior practitioners as and when required.

Participate in the process of clinical supervision.

To observe and maintain agreed policies and procedures as defined by the Trust.

Participate in Multi-disciplinary Team meetings and other service-related meetings as appropriate.

To inform the lead clinician for the Multi-disciplinary Team of matters that might affect policy decisions.

To co-operate with senior clinicians in CAMHS in investigating complaints and mishaps.

To participate in in-service training and interagency staff.

To undertake any such duties as may be delegated and appropriate according to level of skill and competency.

Follow policies and protocols with regards to children and family services and share relevant information with other agencies as required by Child Protection procedures.

Supervised for managerial purposes by the Team Manager or Deputy Team Manager.

Participate in the Trust’s research, audit and development projects as required.

EDUCATION / DEVELOPMENT

To supervise and participate in the training of students and other professionals and interagency staff.

To assess and evaluate the progress of students and report the same to the relevant professional discipline and tutorial staff concerned where indicated.

To keep-up-to-date with Best Practice relevant to Child and Adolescent Mental Health service and user needs

To participate in the induction process of new staff as necessary.

To act as advisor on Child and Adolescent Mental Health to other healthcare professionals and interagency staff.

Continue personal professional development through a structured appraisal and training process.

Participate in the supervision and practice development of junior staff and students.

Undertake annual Individual Performance Appraisal (IPA) and Personal Development Plan with your line manager.

Contribute to the continuing development and planning of the Multi-disciplinary Team.

Contribute to the continuing developments of the Multi-disciplinary Team.

Provide evidence to support development around the Trust Appraisal system.

Participate in regular supervision, engage in reflective practice and be committed to continued development.

Develop own skills and knowledge and contribute to the development of others.

To promote and facilitate the education of child and adolescent mental health with children, young people, families, interagency staff and healthcare professionals.

RESEARCH AND AUDIT

To maintain accurate systematic, clinical and professional records, as required by the service and in accordance with Trust Policy.

To provide statistics as required by the Trust

To ensure effective communication between interagency staff and healthcare professionals. This may require the co-ordination of other services as appropriate under the guidance of the senior practitioners

 

Person specification

Knowledge/Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of mental health assessments and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families
  • Skilled in the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, clinical sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups that reflect the full range of clinical severity including a high degree of professionalism in the face of emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
  • Experienced in and the ability to undertake case management and the supervision of students as required
  • Knowledge and skills in the complete range of approaches within the field as required to meet the needs of different patients and settings.
  • Level of knowledge of the mental health needs of children and adolescents.
  • Have experienced in providing risk assessments
  • Must demonstrate ability to be self-reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately
  • Ability to work within a culturally diversive community in a wide variety of contexts including highly specialist skills for working in settings outside the clinic.
  • Ability to take full clinical responsibility for patient care and treatment, both as a care co-ordinator and within the context of a multi-disciplinary team
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist therapies in specific difficult to treat groups.
  • A level knowledge of theory and practice of specialist therapy / interventions
  • Experience of delivering teaching, training.
  • Experience in consultation to other professional and non-professional groups Information technology and management skills using word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentation software.
  • Level of knowledge and/or training and other psychological therapies
  • Knowledge and skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Must have qualification in at least one of the following areas , Individual or group Psychotherapy Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Person centred counselling Systemic Family Practice Webster Stratton Incredible years / parenting groups professional
  • Must have professional qualification and registration with an appropriate accrediting body (i.e. HCPC / BACAP ), or equivalent from the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) approved accredited register
  • Degree or equivalent level of experience
  • Post Graduate or equivalent level of experience
Desirable criteria
  • Core Professional qualification in one of the following areas Nursing Social work Psychology Occupational therapy

Values

Essential criteria
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Accountability
  • Respectfulness
  • Enthusiasm
  • Support
  • High professional standards
  • Responsive to service users
  • Engaging leadership style
  • Strong customer service belief
  • Transparency and honesty
  • Discreet
  • Change oriented

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Interpersonal skills of a high level to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, in order to convey clinically sensitive information to family members of all ages and to a wide range of lay and professional persons, within and outside of the NHS.
  • Demonstrate the ability to co-ordinate and lead a multi-agency care plan / risk management plan
  • Knowledge of legislation and strategic frameworks and their implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the full range of client groups.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Fair Employment Charter Status - Aspiring LevelVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardCTP The Ministry of Defence partnering with Right ManagementNavajo - Merseyside and CheshireDisability confident employerCare Leaver CovenantStep into healthArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Carl Turner
Job title
Clinical Team Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01925 579405
Additional information

Hayley Long, Deputy Team Manager can be contacted also for additional information - [email protected]

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