Mental Health Practitioner - Duty Clinician

Go back Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 25 January 2026

The Winchester and Test Valley Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) team are seeking a full time Mental Health Practitioner to join the already well established and supportive team. The role will largely be working with the young people who are waiting for further support and held on our duty system, alongside a small caseload and the chance to also initially assess young people referred to CAMHS.

The role of Mental Health Practitioner is to work in partnership with children and young people in the designated care group with complex health presentations, developing their care plans and recovery plans to enable them to lead fulfilling lives. They will demonstrate an understanding of clinical interventions relevant the care group to include education, care plans and discharge planning, working closely with carers, families and partner agencies to facilitate this.

The post holder will work at all times to promote the safety and the well being of children and young people and their families/carers. The post holder will assess, plan and implement care, and provide specialist advice and interventions. They will also provide clinical supervision to staff and students and act as a mentor for students.

• To be a core member of the team, using specialist health assessments.
• To provide a highly specialised range of clinical interventions relevant to the care group and have knowledge of evidence-based models of practice.
• To manage a caseload of clients with complex health needs.
• To work in partnership with the individual, child or young person, their families and carers as appropriate to ensure the delivery of the care plan, and to enable the development of a plan to facilitate their safety, promote their well being and support their independence and inclusion in the community, by using recognised age appropriate self management tools where applicable. This may include working closely with partner agencies such as voluntary sector agencies, schools and colleges which may be able to more appropriately help the service user complete these tools.
• To develop care plans that meet the needs of the individual and their family/carers as appropriate and that are focused on strengths and are outcome based.
• To plan and implement children or young people centred individual, family and group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.
• To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.
• To monitor medication prescribed to an individual child or young person, providing information and advice.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert.

The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview…