CAMHS Connect Specialist Mental Health Practitioner

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CAMHS Connect Specialist Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 03 October 2025

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Northamptonshire has an opportunity for an enthusiastic and confident Specialist Mental Health Practitioner, with experience of working with children with mental health issues, and ideally within a community setting to work within the new CAMHS Connect Team. The team is part of our wider Core CAMHS service which provides specialist intervention for young people and their families based on the i-Thrive Model. Seen as the "Front door to CAMHS", CAMHS Connect engages with the community to offer advice and support through a professional's consultation telephone line and online messaging service. In addition to this, CAMHS Connect will also undertake screening of referrals, and conduct urgent initial assessments for young people, making this a diverse and valuable role for the service. The service has recently been successful in gaining additional funding to expand and develop support for children and young people. We are therefore looking to recruit new team members who are passionate about collaborative working with professionals to improve the mental health of young people.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for capable team players with sound knowledge of child and adolescent mental health; the ability to work autonomously, the ability to communicate effectively with professionals, children, young people and their families, often via the telephone. Screening incoming referrals to CAMHS and undertaking urgent initial assessments. The ability to remain calm under pressure and a willingness to work flexibly in an evolving service, the ability to complete clinical risk reviews with families and young people who contact our service. As part of the role you will be offered professional, safeguarding, clinical and managerial supervision along with opportunities for further training. The post-holder will be nominally based at our base in Wellingborough, but will provide a countywide service and will be expected to travel to other locations. As part of an expanding service successful applicants will be required to offer some evening work on a regular basis, up to two evenings a week till 7pm.

About us

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be 'outstanding' by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.

Job responsibilities

To work within the designated Team, according to the Team practices, ethos and responsibilities. To provide specialist psychological assessment of clients based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and interrogation of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interview with clients, family members and others involved in the child/young persons care. To implement appropriate psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining formulations drawing up on different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. To evaluate and make decisions regarding treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors concerning historical developmental processes, for example Trauma that have shaped the individual. To utilise analytical skills for assessing and interpreting complex facts. ie. suicide risk/child protection, and to take appropriate action, following the analysis, interpretation, and comparison of a range of options. To plan and organise a broad range of psychotherapeutic activities or programmes, some of which are on-going, which require the formulation and adjustment of plans or strategies. To support the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of therapeutic care plans by other team members, and share clinical responsibility for their delivery. To make judgements on an individual basis involving highly sensitive and complex information and/or situations, which require analysis, interpretation and the comparison of a range of options, and to provide support to other team members regarding their clinical decision making and risk assessment. To carry a complex case load, using advanced clinical skills. To monitor outcomes using accepted outcome measures, and ensure these outcomes are fed back to children/young people and their families/carers appropriately. Understand and apply legal policy that supports the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/vulnerable adults health procedure and local guidelines. To support and foster a workforce that works within Integrated Specialist Pathways, through a treatment package, structured but supportive approach. This post may require lengthy periods of sitting at a desk, or in consultation with young people and their families. This post requires the ability to drive and access to a vehicle. This post requires standard keyboard skills. This post has frequent requirement for periods of prolonged concentration, particularly when completing clinical care plans, risk assessments and treatment outcome letters and reports. This post will involve frequent exposure to children/young people who may have experienced significant abuse or trauma. This post includes working in a variety of settings, and may include exposure to verbal, or even occasional physical aggression.

Person Specification

Qualifications

- Registration with an appropriate governing body. Eg. BACP, BABCP, HCPC. ? Significant evidence of working practice as a Psychological therapist. ? Continuing supervision in line with registering body requirements for continuing professional development. ? Maintenance of current specific professional and legal standards of practice in accordance with professional codes of conduct. ? Demonstrable knowledge and skills in evidence based psychological interventions. ? Knowledge of a range of mental illnesses in children and young people, and how to work alongside NICE guidance and evidence based practice to intervene effectively. ? Understanding of relevant legislation (e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act).
- Evidence of continuing professional development. ? Proven post qualification experience of working in community settings. ? Experience of service development.

Experience

- Working with children, young people and their families, Ability to communicate complex ideas both verbally and in written form
- Experience of providing training, consultation or direct work with young people, Evidence of working within a multi-disciplinary context

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.

Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

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