Job summary
- Main area
- CYPMHS
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 350-CC7887062
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- The Alders
- Town
- Warrington
- Salary
- £38,682 - £46,580 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Mental Health Practitioner
Band 6
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Mental Health professional to join the established Warrington Mental Health Support Team, delivering mental health support to children and young people across education settings in Warrington.
This post is subject to an enhanced with children’s and adult’s barred list Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.
This post requires a professional registration:
EMHP Graduate or Post Graduate qualification
CYWP Graduate or Post Graduate qualification
PWP Graduate or Post Graduate qualification
CBT Post Graduate/Diploma Certificate
OR:
Core Professional Qualification in one fo the following areas:-
Nursing - Social Word - Occupational Therapist
Main duties of the job
The role is to hold a caseload, offer risk management and support, support and supervise educational mental health practitioners, offer consultations, undertake Duty responsibilities for the team, work in collaboration with CAMHS teams within the trust and work closely with allocated schools including considering and accepting referrals via school consolation and offering consultancy/training to schools.
The post holder will be expected to provide interventions, advice, consultancy and supervision to both colleagues and colleagues within external partner agencies in line with THRIVE framework.
As a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, the post holder will provide high standards of evidence based client centred care to children and young people with mental health [CYPMH] problems within the THRIVE Framework for service delivery.
As the post is identified within the CYPMH strategy, it is expected the role will continue to develop in line with national and local initiatives.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
CLINICAL
To hold a caseload of both specialist and generic work dependant on clinical competence and experience.
To undertake assessments, treatment and consultation work based upon a conceptual framework and employing research based evidence.
To provide direct therapeutic interventions in line with the grading of the post, including assessments, formulation and therapeutic input into children, young people and families referred into the service.
Undertake risk assessments and care plans accordingly, in line with the THRIVE framework
To work in ways that are sensitive to the needs of children and young people families from a wide range of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
To be responsible for the screening of referrals to children and Young People’s services.
To participate directly in the teams duty rotas.
To exercise responsibility and autonomy, within supervisory, managerial and accountability structures, for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients
To deliver care co-ordination, ensuring effective assessment, care planning and risk management processes are maintained. Involve the views of children, their families, referring agents and other professionals involved in the network of care including organising multi-agency meetings.
To produce a clinical formulation and intervention plan founded on evidence based practice in co-operation with the child young person and carers
To hold responsibility for standards of clinical practice within area of specialist knowledge
To work jointly and collaboratively with other team members in order to enhance and develop the provision of services to young people and their families.
To have an effective knowledge base of other modalities so as to engage and work effectively with colleagues in other disciplines.
To provide consultation, advice and guidance to junior colleague. To promote effective multi-agency work.
To contribute theoretical knowledge to the process of managing risk
within the multi-agency network.
Undertake risk management for all children including the protective and risk factors present in the network of significant relationships.
Identify and respond appropriately to child protection issues, as described with the guidelines of Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and Northwest Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust safeguarding policies
Maintain clear and comprehensive electronic clinical records, to ensure information is accurate and complies with Data Protection Act and professional body and Trust standards.
To engage with using routine outcome measures as clinically appropriate including their use in clinical practice and inputting data into clinical records.
To work collaboratively with children, young people and their families and contribute to the trust’s service user participation agenda.
Person specification
Qualifcations
Essential criteria
- Must hold one of the following:
- EMHP Graduate or Post Graduate Qualification
- CYWP Graduate or Post Graduate Qualification
- PWP Graduate or Post Graduate Qualification
- CBT Post Graduate Certificate/Diploma
- OR: Core Professional Qualification in one of the following areas - Nursing - Social Work - Occupational Therapy
Desirable criteria
- Senior EMHP Qualification
- Senior CYWP Qualification
- PWP Supervision Qualification
Experience/Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Experience of managing a caseload of children and young people with a range of moderate mental health needs.
- Working within a children community mental health setting
- Experience of delivering evidence based psychological therapy e.g., CBT
- Experience of providing supervision
- Skilled in the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, clinical sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups that reflect the full range of clinical severity including a high degree of professionalism in the face of emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Experienced in and the ability to undertake case management and the supervision of students as required.
- Knowledge and skills in the complete range of approaches within the field as required to meet the needs of different patients and settings.
- Level of knowledge of the mental health needs of children and adolescents.
- Have experience in providing risk assessments.
- Must demonstrate ability to be self reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately.
- Ability to work within a culturally diverse community in a wide variety of contexts including highly specialist skills for working in settings outside the clinic.
- Ability to take full clinical responsibility for patient care and treatment, both as a care coordinator and within the context of a multi-disciplinary team.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist therapies in specific difficult to treat groups
- A level knowledge of theory and practice of specialist therapy / interventions
- Experience of delivering teaching, training
- Experience in consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Experience of mental health assessments and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families
- Experience of providing clinical supervision
- Information technology and management skills using word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentation software
- Level of knowledge and/or training and other psychological therapies
- Knowledge and skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups.
- Knowledge of research design and methodology consistent with practice to at least Degree level or equivalent
VALUES
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Transparency and honesty
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential criteria
- Interpersonal skills of a high level to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, in order to convey clinically sensitive information to family members of all ages and to a wide range of lay and professional persons, within and outside of the NHS.
- Demonstrate the ability to coordinate and lead a multi-agency care plan / risk management plan
- Knowledge of legislation and strategic frameworks and their implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the full range of client groups.
- Ability to convey and to model an understanding of the ethical guidelines in all areas of professional conduct
- Physical stamina to support clinical. caseload which requires intense concentration whilst sitting with client groups
- Ability to identify and provide appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
- Ability to identify and employ as appropriate clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice.
- Demonstrate a commitment to respecting and displaying the Trust Values at all times
- A commitment to the continuous improvement of services using feedback from individual clients, families, user surveys and clinical research
- Emotional stamina, and resilience to respond constructively in highly stressful situations
- Ability to organise and co-ordinate areas of work that are complex and demanding
Desirable criteria
- Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills to multidisciplinary wo
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dave Mulholland
- Job title
- Assistant Operational Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
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