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Job summary

Main area
Senior Clinical Specialist
Grade
8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
425-25-7352651
Employer
Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Albion House
Town
Sheffield
Salary
£55,690 - £62,682 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/09/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Clinical Specialist

8a

Job overview

Permanent | Full-time

We're looking for a passionate Senior Clinical Specialist to join our growing Healthy Minds Mental Health Support Team (MHST) in Sheffield. This is an exciting opportunity to shape and deliver innovative, school-based mental health support focused on early intervention, prevention, and trauma-informed care.

You'll help transform mental health provision in education, working within a nationally recognised and multidisciplinary CAMHS service. The MHST supports 50% of mainstream schools in Sheffield, with a clear goal of full citywide coverage by 2029.

About You:

  • A registerable mental health qualification, such as RMN, Social Worker, Psychotherapist, or Family Therapist

  • Strong clinical experience in child and adolescent mental health

  • Skilled at applying psychological models to complex cases and systems, with confidence in leading clinical projects

  • Excels in multi-agency environments, balancing strategic oversight with hands-on delivery

  • Committed to trauma-informed practice, service improvement, and innovation in school-based mental health

Main duties of the job

Reporting into the Clinical Lead (Healthy Minds), your responsibilities will include:

  • Provide clinical leadership to ensure high-quality, evidence-based delivery of the Mental Health Support Team.

  • Lead a multidisciplinary team, working with schools to embed whole-school wellbeing approaches.

  • Deliver supervision, consultation, and training across sectors, while undertaking direct clinical work with children and young people.

  • Apply psychological theory to develop tailored interventions, and lead on service development and workforce training in collaboration with educational partners.

Working for our organisation

At Sheffield Children’s, our purpose is clear: to provide healthier futures for children and young people. Our three strategic aims are Outstanding Patient Care, Brilliant Place to Work, and Leaders in Children’s Health.

We work with partners across local, regional, and national levels to deliver physical and mental healthcare in both acute and community settings. Many of our clinicians are nationally and internationally recognised for their expertise.

We’re proud that 73% of colleagues would recommend Sheffield Children’s as a place to work, placing us among the top five NHS trusts in England — and the top-ranked trust in the North East and Yorkshire — in the latest NHS Staff Survey.

Our nearly 4,000 colleagues bring our CARE values — Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence — to life every day, creating a kind, welcoming environment where patients and families feel safe and supported.

As we approach our 150th anniversary in 2026, we’re excited to keep building our leadership in children's health, improve experiences for patients and staff, and focus on our communities and population health.

We also offer excellent benefits to support your wellbeing, with generous annual leave and pension schemes, health and wellbeing programmes, and exclusive discounts — helping you thrive at work and beyond.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For more information on the main responsibilities for this post, please refer to the job description and person specification.

Please note that Sheffield Children's uplift pay to meet the Real Living Wage, which is £12.60 per hour.

Diversity Statement

At Sheffield Children’s, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment that celebrates diversity and supports everyone’s success. We prioritise Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in our recruitment practices, creating a welcoming space for people of all backgrounds, including ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ members.

Recognising that inclusivity is an ongoing effort, we review our processes and welcome feedback to enhance our practices. A diverse team strengthens our organisation and the quality of care we deliver. For ideas on how we can improve, please contact our Recruitment Manager at [email protected]. Together, we’re building a workplace where everyone belongs.

#LI-Hybrid

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Experience of specialist psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions with children and young people with psychological and mental health problems and their families in health settings.
  • • Experience of working with a wide variety of child mental health problems across the full age range, reflecting all levels of severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
  • • Extensive clinical experience working in CAMHS services with at least 3 years’ experience post qualification in a senior position.
  • • Experience of developing and delivering specialised treatment packages with individuals and groups/families.
  • • Experience in the supervision of psychological practitioners
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working within the area of specialty
  • Substantial experience in teaching or training others
  • Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
  • Experience of working within educational settings or education
  • Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
  • Experience of applying psychological theory and evidence-based practices to develop tailored interventions.
  • Team leadership

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria
  • • Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological 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 & nonprofessional groups.
  • Team leadership skills
  • Skills in providing consultation
  • Skills in facilitating reflective practice
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality.
  • High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
  • Formal supervision training
  • Postgraduate knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis.
  • Developing knowledge of local wider systems and networks.
  • Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi- media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic setting.

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria
  • A registerable mental health qualification such as Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN), a registerable social work qualification such as Social Worker, or a registerable psychotherapy qualification such as Art Psychotherapist or Family Therapist
  • Accredited practitioner status with the HCPC or relevant governing body
  • Postgraduate psychotherapy qualification such as PG Dip in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, MA Art Therapy, MSc Family Therapy
Desirable criteria
  • Qualification in supervision of practitioners in delivering psychotherapies.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

No smoking policyMenopause Friendly EmployerPositive about disabled peopleDisability confident leaderCare quality commission - GoodMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Stonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Armed Forces CovenantLiving Wage Employer

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
Zoe Brownlie
Job title
Service Lead Healthy Minds MHST
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0114 305 3218
Additional information

Email contact is preferred. 

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