Job Title: Senior CAMHS Practitioner
Agency: East London NHS Foundation Trust
Location: Bedford, United Kingdom
Salary/Rate: 49,387 to 56,515 £ / Year

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Job summary

We are seeking an enthusiastic, flexible, and self-motivated individual who is passionate about making a meaningful difference to the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. If you are committed to delivering high-quality care, value collaborative team working, and are looking for a rewarding new challenge, this could be an excellent opportunity for you. Strong communication, organisational, and interpersonal skills are essential, alongside a motivation to support positive outcomes for young people and their families.

The Community Access Service (CAS) is pleased to offer an exciting opportunity for an experienced CAMHS Practitioner to join our established and dedicated team. CAS has a strong commitment to improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people within schools and the wider community. This role provides the opportunity to deliver evidence-based interventions across a range of educational settings, helping to increase early access to support and ensure timely mental health care for young people.

Main duties of the job

As part of a comprehensive and dynamic CAMHS service, you will contribute to the delivery of a substantial stepped-care model informed by the needs-led THRIVE framework. The role offers the opportunity to develop and deliver a wide range of interventions, projects, and service developments that support whole-school and whole-community approaches to mental health. Alongside direct clinical work, you will contribute to wider system change initiatives designed to improve emotional wellbeing and create supportive environments for children and young people. The role also includes participation in multi-agency meetings, consultation services, and drop-in sessions, offering advice and guidance to schools, families, and community partners to ensure joined-up, collaborative support for children and young people.

The successful candidate will provide consultation, assessment, risk management, and therapeutic interventions for young people experiencing emotional and mental health difficulties within educational settings. In addition, the post holder will provide supervision and support to junior colleagues, helping to develop their clinical practice and professional skills.

Person Specification

Education/Qualification/Training

Essential

• A qualification in Child Psychotherapy, Clinical or Counselling Psychology, Family Therapy, Social Work, Arts Psychotherapy or Nursing & Registration. Please do not apply for this role if you do not have one of the qualifications listed above
• The candidate to have at least two years’ post-qualification experience.
• Understanding of current NHS/Social Care policies/practices relating to Mental Health and Services and understands the Child Protection Policy

Desirable

• Parenting qualification and parenting supervision qualification.
• Specific therapeutic modality training and qualification e.g. CBT, DBT, IPT and accreditation with BABCP etc.
• IAPT supervisors Page 8 of 9 course

Experience

Essential

• Previous experience of working in CAMHS
• Experience of working with a wide range of mental health problems commonly seen in CAMHS
• Experience of care planning
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary way

Desirable

• Delivery of parenting programmes – Webster-Stratton, Triple P, NVR etc. Previous experience working with schools in a mental health capacity.
• Supervision of clinicians delivering parenting and manualised CBT interventions
• Experience of working in a culturally diverse inner city area
• Experience in crisis work

Knowledge

Essential

• A high degree of self-awareness and an ability to reflect on personal and professional attitudes and accept feedback
• Awareness of current national guidelines and policies in the field of CAMHS
• Specific knowledge of pertinent issues for CAMHS
• In-depth knowledge of CAMHS issues including assessment and interventions
• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) and associated legislation
• Knowledge of specific inner city issues which impact care delivery
• Knowledge of the Children’s Act and other appropriate legislation
• Knowledge of standard setting and audit implementation
• An awareness of different research methods
• A working knowledge of Child Protection Guidelines

Desirable

• Knowledge of development in inter-agency partnership

Skills

Essential

• Evidence of well-developed clinical skills and knowledge in CAMHS
• Specialist clinical skills within specific therapeutic modalities
• Able to manage own time and caseload
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Evidence of ability to lead, support and influence others
• Able to work effectively across organisational boundaries
• Teaching skills, both in clinical setting and education centres
• Keyboard/computer skills

Other

Essential

• Commitment to equal opportunities
• Self-motivated, assertive and flexible
• Proven qualities in sustaining the mental, emotional and physical demands of specialized therapeutic work with disturbed and distressed children, adolescents and their families/carer networks.
• Car driver essential
• Freedom to act: Physical effort: Confined sitting position(therapy); travelling within community; keyboard skills
• Mental effort: writing reports; planning teaching; concentrating for therapy sessions /clinical supervision; managing psychiatric emergencies
• Emotional effort: Dealing with families in breakdown; experiencing trauma and abuse; occasional patient complaints; conveying of unwelcome news
• Working conditions: Occasional abusive behaviour; unpredictable clinical scenarios eg emergency home visits; travel in community in all weathers.

Closing Date: 4 October 2026

How to Apply;

Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online for this job

Disclaimer

Author: Simon RobertEasyInfoBlog is a multi-author blog. We have experts and professionals in various fields who share their ideas and expert knowledge to help you with your daily information needs. Thanks for reading!