Clinical Nurse Specialist - CAIST

Main area Mental Health Nurse Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Flexible working
• Compressed hours

Site 80 St Stephens Town Norwich Salary £49,387 - £56,515 gross per annum (pro rata) Salary period Yearly Closing 31/08/2026 23:59

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.

Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.

Are you committed to improving the lives of children and young people by providing a mental health service we can be truly proud of? If the answer is yes, we’d love to hear from you!

We are seeking to recruit a Clinical Nurse Specialist within our Child and Adolescent Crisis Service (CAIST) in Norfolk and Waveney. An ideal role for someone that wants to combine elements of management and leadership while also maintaining specialist direct clinical work.

We have bases in East, Central & West Norfolk; we allocate a base closest to where you live. The role is peripatetic so you will be required to travel to different sites, therefore being able to travel independently is essential.

The CAIST (Crisis, Assessment & Intensive Support Team) service is a vibrant and dynamic service that has 3 teams based across Norfolk & Waveney service, 7 days a week. The service is commissioned for 08:00-20:00 7 days per week.

The team offers community based intensive support to children, young people & their families. CAIST aim to establish trusting therapeutic relationships, to reduce risks when children & young people may be experiencing high levels of distress.

When you join CAIST, you can expect your role to be varied and diverse – no two days are ever the same!

Whilst experience in working with children and young people would make you perfectly suited to this role, we are really open to welcoming people from clinical backgrounds who have experience in other areas of mental health. We understand that you will be able to bring with you a wealth of skills and experience to the team and would welcome new ways of thinking.

You will offer direct clinical work (crisis assessment and individual interventions via intensive support) with children under 18 years that have presented in crisis, alongside their families and carers where appropriate.

Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will model high standards of clinical practice, undertake complex mental state and risk assessments, and regularly lead on clinical decision-making. You will provide specialist clinical advice, consultation, and formulation to colleagues across the CYP pathway, (including CAMHS and Youth teams), to promote safe and effective crisis management.

With oversight from the Senior Nurse, you will take a key role in service development and quality improvement, supporting governance, supervision, training, and implementation of key clinical frameworks. You will act as a role model for compassionate and recovery-focused care, promoting least-restrictive practice and instilling a culture of continuous learning, safety, and responsiveness.

The CAIST team has recently been recognised through our Quality and Safety Review Process as being a responsive and collaborative service that has a positive, inclusive culture, with shared vision and objectives. Feedback from young people and families, identified CAIST as an accessible and flexible service that prioritises service user collaboration and shared decision making.

It is important to us that all staff share our values and core beliefs, and those of the NHS Constitution. We promote an environment of mutual respect,…