Job summary
- Main area
- CAMHS Rapid Response
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 371-TAP-CFS0502
- Employer
- Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- CAMHS Rapid Response
- Town
- Slough OR Reading
- Salary
- £46,148 - £54,931 Per annum (if base is in Slough, salary includes HCAS)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 09/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Advanced Mental Health Practitioners: CAMHS Rapid Response
Band 7
Job overview
Are you a Mental Health Nurse, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist ready for your next challenge?
Do you want to use your skills in children and young people’s mental health to make a real difference?
We’re looking for Advanced Mental Health Practitioners to join our CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service) Rapid Response Team in Slough and Reading. We offer a 24/7 service to children and young people in mental health crisis.
This is a varied, front-line role in a compassionate and forward-thinking team where you’ll:
- Build upon your skills in crisis response, risk assessment and multi-agency working
- Work with a broad and complex range of clinical presentations
- Work closely with families and professionals across health, education and social care
- Take on shift lead responsibilities, manage referrals and help coordinate care
This full-time role includes shift work, including working nights. You’ll work across two sites: In Slough, Fir Tree House (Upton Hospital) during the day, and Wexham Park Hospital at night. Or in Reading, at Erleigh Rd during the day and Royal Berkshire Hospital at night
We’re a friendly, progressive service that champions staff wellbeing and development. As part of a wider CAMHS team, we embrace innovation and quality improvement to deliver great care.
Our Trust is rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC, who highlight our positive culture, staff morale and innovation.
Main duties of the job
- Carry out urgent mental health assessments for children and young people in crisis
- Assess risk, mental state, and psychosocial needs to create clear and effective care plans
- Provide short-term support and intervention, working with families and other services to promote safety and recovery
- Act as shift lead when required – triage calls, manage referrals, prioritise tasks and coordinate the team’s response
- Work as part of a multi-agency network, including community CAMHS, social care, education, and acute services
- Attend, chair and contribute to safeguarding and child protection meetings to support safe and joined-up care
- Use Routine Outcome Measures (ROMs) as part of every clinical contact to support care planning and service development
- Take part in and provide regular clinical and managerial supervision to junior staff when appropriate
- Contribute to a learning environment that supports professional development, innovation, and quality improvement
Applications for this role will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as vacancies may close early
Working for our organisation
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire.
We value diversity and are proud to be a Stonewall Top 100 Employer. We work hard to create an inclusive environment where you’ll be supported by friendly and professional colleagues to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare:
- Caring for and about you is our top priority
- Committed to providing good quality, safe services
- Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.
Benefits of working for us include:
- Flexible working options to support work-life balance.
- 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Excellent learning and career development opportunities
- ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme
- Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
- Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
- Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities and armed forces community to support equality
- Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave.
- Free parking across Trust sites
- High Cost Area allowance
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The “must haves” for this role:
- A recognised professional qualification and registration in a relevant field (e.g. Mental Health Nursing, Social Work, Occupational Therapy)
- Experience supporting children and young people with mental health needs, including those with complex presentations
- Strong skills in mental health assessment, formulation and care planning
- A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle or the ability to travel between multiple sites effectively and efficiently
For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.
We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Emily Perrin on 07815 485196, or email [email protected], who’ll be delighted to help.
Please note, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications/Training
Essential criteria
- Masters Level qualification or recognised equivalent qualification: e.g.: Registered Mental Health Nurse; or Registered Social Worker; or Occupational Therapist
- Registration with NMC or HCPC or other recognised professional body
Desirable criteria
- A supervisory qualification in the relevant professional discipline.
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant post-qualifying experience of undertaking comprehensive assessment of mental health needs, developing care plans, and offering appropriate support based on psychological formulation of presenting difficulties
- Experience of working with service users with high-risk presentations and undertaking risk assessment and risk management plans.
- Experience of hard-to-reach diverse community groups and individuals with emerging complex needs, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities and safeguarding.
- Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environment
- Experience of working within mental health settings supporting children, adolescents and their families.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of providing supervision or leadership to others.
- Experience of contributing to service improvement initiatives.
Knowledge and skills
Essential criteria
- Knowledge and skill to assess acute mental health crisis, and deliberate self-harm at Tier 3 levels
- Demonstrates up to date knowledge of legislation and National strategies and requirements for CAMHS.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Ability to motivate and inspire others and to support others to develop key competencies.
- 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.
- Ability to take clinical responsibility for patient care and treatment.
- Ability to work to timescales and comfortably cope in pressurised situations, applying practical problem-solving skills in everyday and complex situations
- Ability to work autonomously and effectively in a team, reprioritising work and that of others work to reflect changing needs.
- Competent IT skills and the ability to navigate around various systems and software packages (such as outlook, databases, e.g. RiO MS office and internet
Additional Requirements
Essential criteria
- Ability and willingness to work in a flexible way including working outside of normal hours to facilitate out of hours clinics as required.
- Able to maintain professional boundaries and conduct.
- Supportive approach towards colleagues and service users.
- Enthusiastic, self-motivated team player.
- Able to negotiate, be confident and assertive.
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
- Catherine Moulds
- Job title
- Talent Acquisition Partner
- Email address
- [email protected]
List jobs with Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors