Band 7 Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Bristol

Band 7 Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Bristol

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.

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

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust), a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire, and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP, we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds. We are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities, and those from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

• 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 persons mental health needs and associated risks when required, including deliberate selfharm assessments.

To work with children, young people, and their families, promoting opportunities…