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Job summary

Main area
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Grade
Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
22.5 hours per week (If part time hours the working pattern will be determined by the service need.)
Job ref
267-OC7478652
Employer
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Single Point of Access Team
Town
Melksham
Salary
£38,682 - £46,580 per annum | pro-rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
10/11/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Band 6

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.


 

Job overview

Are you a registered Mental Health Nurse seeking a new part time challenge in a supportive team environment?

The CAMHS SPA is a centralised service to support and screen referrals for Children and Young People across  Wiltshire CAMHS and BaNES CAMHS teams. We are recruiting following the promotion of the previous post-holder.

We are the first point of contact for all new referrals and enquiries; we support self, parent/carer and professional referrals. Our robust system of working ensures all contact is reviewed clinically and timely to ensure the appropriate support is offered at the right time by the right service.  

As a member of the team, you will be supported by a dynamic and enthusiastic team who are passionate about meeting the needs of children, young people and parents/carers. The role requires working alongside our colleagues in the core CAMHS teams, other professionals in wider CAMHS and those external to the service. 

Whilst the role can be challenging, the support and experience you will be surrounded with creates a safe positive working environment. 

We embrace learning from our colleagues via regular training and supervision to contribute to our up to date knowledge.  The role extends itself to regularly connect with education settings to support staff in understanding mental health and how to best meet the needs of CYP.

Main duties of the job

  • Provide SPA support through an individualised job plan to cover the needs of the service.
  • Provide phone and digital consultations to CYP, parent/carers and professionals to assess the current mental health presentation and additional wider needs to consider the most appropriate pathway of support.
  • Utilise the internal network of CAMHS professional knowledge and expertise to support clinician decision making
  • When required, triage/screen referrals with the support of a senior clinician.
  • Provide early help consultations to education and school nursing team to consider emotional wellbeing needs of students.

We will need you to possess excellent interpersonal/communication skills; be calm and organised to embrace the changes that can occur in the SPA.  You will need to be efficient in completing documentation and have a sound working knowledge of Excel and Word. 

As a trust all staff are required to undertake 4-6 weekly clinical and managerial supervision; as a team we have implemented monthly peer supervision to actively learn from one another; along with adherence to structured quarterly safeguarding supervision.  Also, importantly we value our own wellbeing; we do this by engaging in regular team wellbeing activities to allow the time to pause and enjoy coming together as a team.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible 

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

  • Excellent opportunities for career progression
  • Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
  • 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
  • NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
  • Competitive pension scheme
  • Lease car scheme
  • Cycle to work scheme
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Mental Health First Aiders
  • Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
  • Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Please note: The role will require you  working as part of an on-call out of hours rota (pro-rota if part-time): for example, if full-time this can be approximately seven days every eighteen weeks, with a buddy system in place to provide support and sharing of the rota. This also includes on-call managerial supervision and ad-hoc supervision support if required. 

All out of hours work is supported by an On-call manager, Consultant Psychiatrist, a Senior Mental Health Practitioner, CAMHS Helpline Service (provided by qualified staff) and hospital liaison staff.  

Please do contact me should you want to talk through the role and find out more about the SPA: Sarah Reeves email: [email protected]  Mobile: 07876 397 748

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Mental Health or equivalent professional health qualification e.g. RMN NURSE
Desirable criteria
  • Teaching/mentoring qualification
  • Leadership training

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Post qualification experience in a mental health setting, which includes working with young people with mental health needs.
  • Experience of mentoring and clinical supervision of others
  • Evidence of delivering mental state examination and risk assessment to inform pathways of care.
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working with children and young people who present with Neurodiversity.
  • Experience of trauma informed approach to your work

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of continuing professional development
  • Understanding of the legal and social policy issues influencing the work environment.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerStep into healthNHS 75th BirthdayDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - Gold

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Michael Stynes
Job title
Clinical Team Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01865 903330
Additional information

At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.

Therefore, if you don’t meet all the requirements of the role and are unsure about applying but are excited about the opportunity, please do get in touch. We will be happy to discuss the requirements in more detail ahead of making a written application.

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