Senior Mental Health Practitioner or Clinical Psychologist
At a glance
- Band
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time, Flexible working
- Posted
- 22/09/2026
- Closes
- 06/10/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This role involves working with children and young people with complex needs, high risk behaviours, and high vulnerability within the Enhanced Support Team. The post holder will conduct mental health assessments, provide evidence-based clinical interventions, and offer support and consultation to families and other professionals. It requires substantial experience in complex systems, case consultation, and multi-agency collaboration. The role also includes providing supervision to junior team members and trainees.
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Qualifications & Training
- Qualified in core profession such as Mental Health Nurse (RMN), Mental Health Practitioner, Clinical Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Social Work or creative therapies e.g. Art Therapy or Recognised degree level broad based health & social care qualification which will require completion of The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Knowledge Skills and Attributes
- Accredited therapeutic training
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of child and adolescent mental health.
- Post graduate (masters and above) level study
- Experience of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with mental health problems and their families.
- Working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team
- Working collaboratively with other agencies in a variety of venues.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems, across the whole age range, reflecting all levels of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
- Must be experienced in providing risk assessment of self harming behaviour
- Must be experienced in analysing presenting problems and able to demonstrate ability to work autonomously utilising a range of therapeutic perspectives and modalities, depending on the needs of the client.
- Must be experienced in and able to demonstrate ability to provide case management supervision for lower banded CAMHS Workers, students and other service group/team professionals as required.
- Must demonstrate ability to be self-reflective and to organise own supervision appropriately. Must be able to demonstrate ability to develop and evaluate consultation and training to other professionals and to staff groups.
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
- Experience of the application of specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions of in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of working with children and young people in a range of clinical settings.
- Some knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
- Must demonstrate knowledge of the evidence base in their practice.
- Must demonstrate understanding of child development and psychosocial influences
- Must demonstrate a working understanding of systemic, psychodynamic and cognitive theories along with recognition of when each approach is appropriate.
- Must demonstrate knowledge of audit and evaluation methodology.
- Must demonstrate knowledge of research methodology.
- Must demonstrate an understanding of current government initiatives underpinning service developments. Must demonstrate strong organisational skills.
- Must be able to demonstrate the ability to manage aspects of service development in line with government initiatives
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc)
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised therapies/interventions
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of child and adolescent mental health.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
- Qualifications & Training
- Qualified in core profession such as Mental Health Nurse (RMN), Mental Health Practitioner, Clinical Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Social Work or creative therapies e.g. Art Therapy or Recognised degree level broad based health & social care qualification which will require completion of The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Knowledge Skills and Attributes
- Accredited therapeutic training
- Pre-qualification traini
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 7 at £46,148 – £52,809 a year, across England.
This advert: £49,387 – £56,515 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 0d ago · Closes in 15d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Senior Mental Health Practitioner or Clinical Psychologist
The closing date is 06 October 2026
Job summary
- Right to work: We actively promote diversity and inclusion. This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the Health and Care route. We recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. Visit Health and Care Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK
The Enhanced Support Team works with children and young people with complex needs who present with high risk, high harm behaviours and high vulnerability. They are likely to have difficulties in multiple domains which are persistent, severe and are framed by family and social contexts. This may include children and young people who are involved in youth justice services, not in education employment or training, who engage in substance misuse, have multiple adverse childhood experiences, who are neurodiverse or have speech language and communication difficulties etc. These children and young people are likely to have been referred to multiple services, but there are significant barriers to engagement
The successful applicant will contribute to the clinical work of both teams and hold case management responsibility for their workload. Provision of supervision to lower banded team members, trainees and other internal professionals as required.
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