Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit a CAMHS Practitioner to the Southwark CAMHS Early Help Team (a Tier 2 generic team.)

The post holder will be a care coordinator, assessing and treating children and young people in the team working in collaboration with the multiple disciplinary teams (MDT). The post holder will also be involved in supporting and advising parents and carers of C&YP referred to the service as well as offering consultation and advice to their professional networks.

The post holder will carry out initial mental health assessments and offer treatment according to their clinical and professional background and training. They will also carry out ADHD assessments following training.

It is important that the successful candidate has experience of working with children and young people with mental health difficulties. Experience working therapeutically with children and young people with Neurodevelopmental conditions is particularly desirable.

Main duties of the job

Participate as a multi-disciplinary team member in the setting and reviewing of therapeutic aims, objectives, standards and strategies to provide a high standard of care to clients and their families.

Assume responsibility for own case list and case management of children, adolescents and families who are determined to be at mild to moderate risk.

Undertake all duties in line with the professional Codes of Professional Conduct and maintain professional registration requirements for the post according to discipline/profession.

You will manage your own caseload and work within a team but will have freedom to act within the service framework and Trust operational policies.

Ensure that all recording and reporting of client contact are accurate, up to date, of good quality and within CAMHS and professional requirement standards of record keeping. To collect & collate information about individual clinical activity on ePJS

To link with other statutory and voluntary agencies and professionals as well as other CAMHS Teams in terms of referrals and joint work. Maintain good relationships and clear lines of communication with other professional agencies and departments, providing specialist advice and support where appropriate

Contribute to the effective functioning of the team and service through attendance at relevant meetings, taking responsibilities within the service as appropriate and negotiated with the line manager.

Working for our organisation

Southwark had a population of 306,745 in 2015; with 22% under 19 years. It has a striking cultural and ethnic diversity with 48% of people describing themselves as belonging to black and minority ethnic groups. There are well-established black and Irish communities with newer populations of Portuguese and South American residents, as well as a high and changing refugee population. A wide range of health indicators highlight Southwark as one of the most deprived areas in England and 12th most deprived borough in London in 2015. For example, compared to national averages, the area has lower socio- economic status and higher unemployment; higher death rates from suicide and higher use of acute inpatient mental health services.

Local CAMHS

Southwark CAMHS employs a large number of child and adolescent mental-health staff. These come from a variety of disciplines including: child psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, family therapy, nursing and occupational therapy, art and drama psychotherapy. The service is organised as follows:

CAMHS Early Help integrated with Children’s Social Care

Specialist services for children, adolescents & their families (2 teams)

Specialist services for young people with Neuro-developmental disorders

Carelink - CAMHS Looked after Children team.