Band 7 Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Bristol

Job overview

This role provides dedicated support to children and young people aged 5–18 who are in care. The postholder will support children and young people presenting with mental health needs that require CAMHS involvement or sensitive, informed signposting to appropriate services. The role also involves working closely with their parents, carers and professional networks. It is designed to enhance the experience and care pathway of children in care who are accessing mental health support.

The core purpose of the role is to ensure that children and young people know who they can approach when they need support, and to help them feel confident that the adults around them will take time to understand their individual mental health needs in a compassionate, non-judgemental and trauma-informed manner. The postholder will work collaboratively across CAMHS and partner agencies to ensure that each young person is connected with the most appropriate support, in the right place, at the right time.

The postholder will also contribute to other functions within CAMHS Getting Advice, such as triage, and will provide clinical supervision to CAMHS Getting Advice clinicians.

Main duties of the job

The key elements of the role include, but are not limited to:

Direct Work With Children and Young People

• Support children and young people referred to Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) CAMHS, with a focus on improving accessibility, waiting times, and outcomes.
• Provide specialist consultation, assessment, and treatment from referral through to discharge.
• Hold and manage a clinical caseload, working independently and collaboratively with colleagues in the Getting Advice team and locality CAMHS teams.

Systemic and Multi‑Agency Working

• Work across the Getting Advice team and locality CAMHS teams to ensure coordinated and consistent support.
• Collaborate with wider systems involved in the young person’s welfare, including social care, education, health, and voluntary sector partners.
• Ensure smooth transitions to other services, including Adult Mental Health Services where appropriate.

Leadership, Training, and Service Development

• Work alongside the Getting Advice Team Managers to support service delivery and development.
• Provide clinical supervision and support the development of CAMHS Getting Advice Mental Health Practitioners, contributing to a skilled and confident workforce.
• Build strong relationships across CAMHS and partner agencies to ensure young people are connected with the right support at the right time.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To assess, develop, implement, and evaluate therapeutic interventions, and to be responsible for the management of your own caseload from referral to discharge.
• To carry out specialist and urgent assessments of a young person’s mental health needs and associated risks when required, including deliberate self‑harm assessments.
• To work with children, young people, and their families, promoting opportunities for their maximum engagement and involvement in formulations, care plans, and evaluation of the service they receive.
• To work jointly with staff from other agencies in direct work with children, young people, and their families.
• When appropriate, to engage in joint work with other specialist CAMHS personnel as agreed with the CAMHS Service Manager.
• To develop effective liaison with referrers, and those contributing to referrals to specialist CAMHS, and to guide referrers to appropriate resources for children and young people with mental health needs.
• To attend CAMHS meetings and case discussions as appropriate.
• To work closely as part of the multi‑disciplinary CAMHS team.
• To practise within current legislation governing the delivery of services to children and young people, including legislation relating to Looked After Children and the safeguarding of children as defined in the Children Act (1989, amended 2004), as well as local guidelines.
• To assess safeguarding issues for each case, to practise within local safeguarding guidelines, to share and directly refer concerns when appropriate, and to participate in multi‑agency safeguarding conferences.
• To participate in regular reviews of cases and attend case discussions, conferences, and reviews as appropriate.
• To comply with the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements of your professional body.

Please contact Lois Richards (Clinical Service Manager) if you would like any further information.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities