South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Senior Mental Health Practitioner (Band 6-7 development post)
The closing date is 14 April 2026
We have a really exciting development post in Wakefield CAMHS as a Band 6 - 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.
Our Responsive Adolescent and Children's Home-Based Treatment Team (ReACH) Team is seeking a Senior Mental Health Practitioner to join our multi-disciplinary team, providing urgent, recovery-focused support to individuals and their families that are experiencing an acute mental health crisis.
This role is fast-paced and rewarding where no two days are the same. You'd be expected to work collaboratively with children, young people, families and external agencies to offer intensive home-based 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 lead MDT meetings to ensure collaborative risk assessments and care plans are in place.
This opportunity will be led by a competency framework to support you through the development from a Band 6 to a Band 7 Practitioner whilst in the role.
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 home-based 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 co‐ordinator
* 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
At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UKVisas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.
All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their up-to-date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients.
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 high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non‐clinical 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.
Being a foundation Trust means we're accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we're 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 the right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
For full details of the Band 6 and Band 7 roles please see the supporting documents attached.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. We strongly discourage this and 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
Bulleted lists of training, knowledge, skills etc are included below.
Training
* Band 6
* Training and experience relating to specialist CAMHS.
* Experience of delivering training to others.
Special Knowledge/Skills
* Band 6
* Good verbal and communication skills.
* Ability to manage own caseload.
* Good negotiation skills, and problem solving skills.
* Effective record keeping and report writing skills to include care planning and risk assessments.
* Have good team working skills. Be able to work across disciplines with an ability to predict and manage inter‐disciplinary tensions and foster good working practices.
* Band 7
* Excellent verbal and communication skills.
* Ability to manage own caseload and to be a self‐reliant 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
* Band 6
* Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
* Commitment to multi‐agency approach.
* Ability to work and make decisions under pressure.
* Calm, confident, innovative, creative and assertive.
* Clarity of decision making.
* 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 self‐care 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).
* Band 7
* Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
* Commitment to multi‐agency 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 self‐care 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.
Experience
* Band 6
* 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.
* Multidisciplinary team working.
* Inter‐agency liaison and consultation.
* Experience of supervising/mentoring junior staff.
* Knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance e.g. NHS plan, Mental Health Legislation, Children's act, Education Act, Working Together, Children's NSF, Every Child Matters, etc.
* Clinical/therapeutic knowledge and skills in mental health.
* Experience in assessment and risk management and ability to implement evidence based practice.
* Proven ability to work with other agencies and disciplines and in partnership with other organisations.
* Experience of safeguarding children and young people.
* Band 7
* 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.
* Inter‐agency 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.
* Band 6
* Experience of community settings.
* Experience of working in different cultural contexts.
* Knowledge and experience of working with Equality and Diversity.
* Band 7
* Experience of community settings.
Qualifications
* Band 6
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).
* A teaching and assessing qualification.
* Band 7
* 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.
* Band 6
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).
* A teaching and assessing qualification.
* Band 7
* Post graduate qualification in mental health (e.g. CBT, Family Therapy, Counselling).
Physical Attributes
* Band 6 and Band 7
* 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).
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
£38,682 to £54,710 a year Band 6 or Band 7 dependent on experience
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