# Specialist Mental Health Therapist > NHS job listing from Job Clerk for Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. ## Canonical URLs - **HTML:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/specialist-mental-health-therapist/3c3fa4f5-99da-4680-bf0c-2f7b6488d2ba - **Markdown:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/specialist-mental-health-therapist/3c3fa4f5-99da-4680-bf0c-2f7b6488d2ba.md ## Summary - **Status:** Live - **Employer:** Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - **Town:** Leatherhead - **Region:** South East - **Country:** England - **Profession:** Mental health professionals - **Grade:** Band 7 - **Salary:** £51,657 - £58,785 Incl. 5% Fringe HCAS, pa, pro rata. - **Contract type:** Permanent - **Employment type:** Full time - 37.5 hours per week - **Closing date:** 2026-07-16T23:59:00.000Z - **Posted:** 2026-07-02T09:43:08.944Z - **Source information URL:** https://www.healthjobsuk.com/job/UK/Surrey/Epsom/Surrey_Borders_Partnership_NHS_Foundation_Trust/Mental_Health_Child_Adolescent/Mental_Health_Child_Adolescent-v8093713 - **Application URL:** https://apps.trac.jobs/job-advert/8093713?ShowJobAdvert=&feedid=9002 - **Employer website:** https://www.sabp.nhs.uk ## Job Content ### Job overview The role will involve working in the well-established and highly regarded Mindworks New Leaf Service, working with children and young people who are in care, who are adopted and/or under special guardianship and those young people who are care leavers, ensuring that an appropriate, timely and affective therapeutic service is delivered to these vulnerable groups. Mindworks Surrey is the children and young people’s Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health and Learning Disability Service in Surrey. It is delivered by a group made up of NHS, national and local voluntary sector organisations all working together. We use an approach called THRIVE, where children and young people have a central voice in decisions about their care. Children and young people have more choices about their options, and more opportunities to access a range of services. The New Leaf Service sits within the ‘Getting More Help’ and ‘Risk Support’ parts of the THRIVE model offering specialist intensive intervention to children, young people and their families/carers. The team’s work is underpinned by developmental trauma and attachment theories, employing therapeutic approaches based upon evidence based practice and current research and is provided in collaboration with children, young people, parents/carers and the professional network. ### Main duties of the job - We are looking for an experienced and highly skilled clinician to join our well-regarded and innovative New Leaf Specialist Service, providing assessment and therapy to looked after children, care leavers, adopted children and those with Special Guardianship Order.  The candidate will need to have significant post-qualifying experience in the field of child and adolescent mental health and an ability to demonstrate experience and understanding of the issues facing children in care, young people leaving care and children who are adopted and under Special Guardianship Orders and who have experienced trauma. An ability to demonstrate robust risk assessment and management skills with this vulnerable client group are essential to the post, as well as experience of working with children and young people and their families/carers in a therapeutic context.  Further details of the main duties and knowledge and experience required are in the attached Job Description. ### Detailed job description and main responsibilities - To provide specialist assessments and mental health interventions working in partnership at all times with children, young people and their families and carers. - To provide consultation, training and advice to professionals and external stakeholders working with children and young people in these vulnerable groups. - To outreach proactively to engage care leavers. - To support the team in safe clinical interventions, providing supervision, case management oversight and expertise in risk management. - To be able to overcome a variety of barriers to communication when working with children, young people and families/carers who may be very traumatised, anxious, vulnerable and have difficulty articulating their problems, requiring imaginative and sensitive approaches towards engagement. - To promote early intervention and active engagement amongst the network, being an ambassador for mental well-being and providing expertise in emotional and mental health across the system in order to effect better outcomes for children and young people. - To be responsible for managing and prioritising own workload of children and adolescents with emotional well-being issues and more complex emerging mental health issues often involving additional difficulties, such as self-harming, depression, trauma and attachment issues. - To be responsible for recording clinical work and communicating, both orally and in writing, in a skilled and constructive manner highly complex or distressing information. - To use age appropriate and sensitive language when sharing assessment and treatment plans with young people being mindful where the information may be unwelcome. - To exercise autonomous professional judgement and responsibility for professional practice. - To consider and assess all safeguarding concerns and to act on these in accordance with national and local safeguarding procedures. - To be committed to non-discriminatory practice, recognise and respect the protected characteristics of children, young people and families/carers. To be aware and mindful of the needs of children and young people from a wide range of racial, religious, cultural, social backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability and SEND. ## Job Details The role will involve working in the well-established and highly regarded Mindworks New Leaf Service, working with children and young people who are in care, who are adopted and/or under special guardianship and those young people who are care leavers, ensuring that an appropriate, timely and affective therapeutic service is delivered to these vulnerable groups. Mindworks Surrey is the children and young people’s Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health and Learning Disability Service in Surrey. It is delivered by a group made up of NHS, national and local voluntary sector organisations all working together. We use an approach called THRIVE, where children and young people have a central voice in decisions about their care. Children and young people have more choices about their options, and more opportunities to access a range of services. The New Leaf Service sits within the ‘Getting More Help’ and ‘Risk Support’ parts of the THRIVE model offering specialist intensive intervention to children, young people and their families/carers. The team’s work is underpinned by developmental trauma and attachment theories, employing therapeutic approaches based upon evidence based practice and current research and is provided in collaboration with children, young people, parents/carers and the professional network. ## Job Description We are looking for an experienced and highly skilled clinician to join our well-regarded and innovative New Leaf Specialist Service, providing assessment and therapy to looked after children, care leavers, adopted children and those with Special Guardianship Order. The candidate will need to have significant post-qualifying experience in the field of child and adolescent mental health and an ability to demonstrate experience and understanding of the issues facing children in care, young people leaving care and children who are adopted and under Special Guardianship Orders and who have experienced trauma. An ability to demonstrate robust risk assessment and management skills with this vulnerable client group are essential to the post, as well as experience of working with children and young people and their families/carers in a therapeutic context. Further details of the main duties and knowledge and experience required are in the attached Job Description. ## Responsibilities To provide specialist assessments and mental health interventions working in partnership at all times with children, young people and their families and carers. To provide consultation, training and advice to professionals and external stakeholders working with children and young people in these vulnerable groups. To outreach proactively to engage care leavers. To support the team in safe clinical interventions, providing supervision, case management oversight and expertise in risk management. To be able to overcome a variety of barriers to communication when working with children, young people and families/carers who may be very traumatised, anxious, vulnerable and have difficulty articulating their problems, requiring imaginative and sensitive approaches towards engagement. To promote early intervention and active engagement amongst the network, being an ambassador for mental well-being and providing expertise in emotional and mental health across the system in order to effect better outcomes for children and young people. To be responsible for managing and prioritising own workload of children and adolescents with emotional well-being issues and more complex emerging mental health issues often involving additional difficulties, such as self-harming, depression, trauma and attachment issues. To be responsible for recording clinical work and communicating, both orally and in writing, in a skilled and constructive manner highly complex or distressing information. To use age appropriate and sensitive language when sharing assessment and treatment plans with young people being mindful where the information may be unwelcome. To exercise autonomous professional judgement and responsibility for professional practice. To consider and assess all safeguarding concerns and to act on these in accordance with national and local safeguarding procedures. To be committed to non-discriminatory practice, recognise and respect the protected characteristics of children, young people and families/carers. To be aware and mindful of the needs of children and young people from a wide range of racial, religious, cultural, social backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability and SEND. ## Person Specification ### Experience **Essential** - Significant post-qualifying experience in the field of child and adolescent mental health. - Ability to demonstrate experience and understanding of the issues facing children in care, young people leaving care and children who are adopted and under special guardianship orders and who have experienced trauma. - Experience of working with children and young people and their families/carers in a therapeutic context - Experience of working with multiple agencies and working in a multidisciplinary team. - Ability to work with children and young people who may have experienced significant trauma, including emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect, family breakdown and multiple placement breakdown - Some demonstrated theoretical knowledge of the evidence-based practice and models of working with attachment and trauma - Ability to demonstrate robust risk assessment and management skills with this vulnerable client group. **Desirable** - Ability and experience of working with children and young people who have PTSD, Complex PTSD, self-harm, trauma, attachment difficulties, depression, anxiety and issues surrounding identity and displacement - Knowledge of the legal processes and developments involved with children in care or previously in care, and their journey, would be valued. ### Qualifications **Essential** - Professional qualification in the following areas: Mental health nursing, Social Work, Systemic Psychotherapy, Arts Psychotherapy (Art or Drama), Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Music Therapy, Play Therapy, Clinical Psychology, CBT Therapy - Professional registration such as HCPC, ACP, UKCP, NMC, Social Work England, BACP, BABCP Accreditation. - Post registration training in specialty of child and adolescent mental health such as systemic psychotherapy, play, art or drama therapy, EMDR, DDP, trauma focussed CBT, CATT **Desirable** - Post Graduate training/qualification or further training in trauma and attachment and specific to the needs of children and young people who are in care, leaving care, adopted or under special guardianship orders. ## Documents - [vacancy links (pdf, 344.6kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?edoc=2727) - [job description (pdf, 472.6kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10387192) - [carers information (pdf, 604.7kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?edoc=2716) - [sabp competency profile map (pdf, 672.5kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?edoc=2714) - [mindful employer information (pdf, 195.2kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?edoc=2715) - [benefits of nhs pension scheme (pdf, 264.6kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?edoc=2717) ## Agent Notes - This Markdown page is generated from the same Job Clerk job record as the HTML job detail page. - Use the canonical HTML URL for user-facing references. - Use the application URL when the user wants to apply on the source NHS site.