Are you a passionate and skilled mental health practitioner who believes every child deserves the opportunity to thrive? Do you want to be part of a dynamic, compassionate, and forward-thinking team that works at the heart of improving emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes for children in care? Are you able to communicate effectively the principles of trauma informed care and able to translate this into everyday interactions?
We have an exciting opportunity to join our Integrated Children in Care Team, a countywide service dedicated to supporting children and young people who have experienced trauma, adversity, and disruption. We are looking for a practitioner who brings enthusiasm, curiosity, and a strong commitment to ensuring children in care receive the right mental health support, at the right time.
Provide a range of specialist assessment, formulation and treatment interventions for children and young people (0–18 years), including children in care and those with learning disabilities, who present with emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties. Interventions will be delivered in accordance with profession-specific models of clinical practice.
Demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning, formulation and autonomous professional responsibility for assessment, intervention and case management through profession-specific care plans.
Provide specialist profession-based therapeutic interventions, demonstrating high levels of knowledge, skills and competence across a range of evidence-based approaches, as outlined within an agreed personal/team-based job plan. This may include delivering interventions within specific care pathways or clinics according to service need.
Provide specialist consultation, advice, signposting and support to children and young people, their families/carers, social workers and professionals within universal, targeted and specialist children’s services across Gloucestershire.
Provide clinical leadership and contribute to developing a strong multidisciplinary and multi-agency ethos, ensuring collaborative working with children, young people, their families/ carers and wider professional networks, with the child’s voice central to assessment, formulation and personalised care planning.
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
As a Specialist Mental Health Practitioner, you will play a pivotal role in improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes of children and young people in care across the county. This is a highly specialist and rewarding role, working with some of our most vulnerable children and young people, many of whom have experienced trauma, loss, adversity, and complex life experiences.
You will provide specialist mental health assessment, formulation and therapeutic interventions for children and young people aged 0–18, including those presenting with emotional and mental health difficulties, learning disabilities, complex presentations, and significant clinical safety concerns. Using your professional mental health expertise and a trauma-informed, child-centred approach, you will ensure that the voice of the child remains central to assessment, care planning and intervention.
Working as part of a skilled multidisciplinary team, you will provide clinical leadership through managing a complex caseload, undertaking specialist safety assessment and formulation, and contributing to robust safety management and multi-agency care planning. You will work closely with social care, carers, education, health colleagues, and other partners across Gloucestershire to develop shared understanding, promote stability, and ensure children receive the right support at the right time.
A key element of the role will be providing specialist consultation, advice, and guidance to professionals and carers supporting children in care. This will include formal and informal training around trauma informed care to increase consistency and adherence to the evidence based practice for children and young people in care. You will also contribute to the screening and triage of referrals into CAMHS, helping to ensure timely access to appropriate services and interventions.
You will support the development of the wider team and service through clinical leadership, supervision of colleagues where appropriate, contribution to multidisciplinary formulations and assessments, service development initiatives, quality improvement projects, and ongoing learning within the team.
This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate, reflective, and skilled mental health practitioner who is committed to making a meaningful difference to the lives of children and young people in care. You will join a supportive and innovative countywide service that values compassion, professional curiosity, and collaborative working to achieve the best possible outcomes for every child.
See attached job description and person specification.
