Job Description

Southwark Child and Adolescent Service (CAMHS) is seeking to recruit an innovative CAMHS practitioner with developed clinical skills to work in its multi-disciplinary Adolescent Team (MDT).



Our dynamic and supportive MDT consists of psychiatry, clinical psychology, nursing, therapist and social work professionals.



The team provides assessment and evidence-based therapies to young people aged 12 to 18 with complex mental health difficulties including depression, emerging psychosis, OCD, PTSD and social anxiety.



The team has close links with Youth Offending Services, an assertive outreach team and National and Specialist Services.



The team also works in close partnership with social care, education and local third sector services and is committed to providing high-quality, collaborative evidence-based interventions.



A well developed culture of innovation exists within CAMHS and SLaM, and team members are involved in both research and service development projects.



SLaM has an excellent support structure for clinicians interested in conducting research and quality improvement initiatives.



The team benefits from strong academic links and regular CPD opportunities.



As a CAMHS practitioner in the Adolescent Team, you will work alongside the MDT and contribute to the delivery of high quality, evidence-based assessment and treatment.



You will act as a care coordinator, assessing and treating children and young people in the team working in collaboration with the MDT.



You will also be involved in supporting and advising parents and carers of young people referred to the service, as well as offering consultation and advice to their professional networks.



You will be responsible for a clinical caseload, involved in assessment, care planning and offer evidence-based interventions for young people with support from the wider MDT.



There are opportunities for joint working with a range of professionals across the service and for contributing to group work.



SLaM is committed to ensuring staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance.



There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family.



SLaM wants you to feel like you are part of a close knit team. It's important to us that you are valued and appreciated and that's why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer

Highlights include:

Generous pay, pensions and leave. SLaM offers a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on role and length of service.



Work-life balance. SLaM offer s flexible working and supports part-time working and job sharing.



Career development. SLaM provides plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes.



Car lease. SLaM staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars.



Accommodation. SLaM staff benefits from keyworker housing, available on selected sites.



NHS discounts. SLaM staff are eligible for discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though health service discount websites.

Other benefits include:

Counselling services.



Wellbeing events.



Long service awards.



Cycle to work scheme.



Season ticket loan.



Childcare vouchers.



Staff restaurants.



The post holder will coordinate care, assessing and treating children and young people in the team working in collaboration with the MDT.



They will also be involved in supporting and advising parents and carers of young people referred to the service as well as offering consultation and advice to their professional networks.

Key Responsibilities:

Participate as a MDT member in the assessment and treatment of children and young people referred to CAMHS.



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.



Work with the team and clients to maintain a safe therapeutic environment. Work to assure the quality of care through achieving high operational standards in clinical systems.



To maintain and ensure good professional standards and attitudes towards the care and treatment of children, young people and their families.



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.

Service and team responsibilities:

Carry out mental health and risk assessments on young people in your care routinely and work under the supervision of the team manager and senior clinicians to manage these situations effectively.



Work with other CAMHS practitioners in the service from all disciplines. You will be a member of a number of internal and external professional networks to ensure that care plans for individual children are co-ordinated efficiently across agencies. This post is a clinical post and the expectation of time management is the majority of time is spent in actual clinical practice.



Work to provide rapid response and intervention for patients who are referred to CAMHS, where this is required.



Work across interfaces in order to provide an integrated service model intended to reduce response time of referral.

Communication responsibilities:

Well developed communication skills are required in order to communicate with staff of all levels and from a variety of disciplines within SLaM and partner agencies.



An ability to promote partnership working between primary and secondary care, local authority, voluntary and statutory agencies, and the independent sector



An ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with patients, relatives and carers, where there may be barriers to understanding.



An ability to deal effectively with patient or carer concerns, complaints and anxieties as they arise



Ensure due-regard to given customs, values and spiritual beliefs of patients, carers and their relatives



Maintain a high standard of verbal and written communication to provide continuity of care.

Individual responsibilities:

Assume responsibility for case management of young people and families who are determined to be at low/medium/high risk.



Make clinical formulation from CAMHS assessment, including risk assessment, on which to recommend a treatment intervention.



Design, write and share copies of care plans with children, young people and their carers.



Assess safeguarding issues and refer concerns to Child Protection Teams.



Deliver interventions for young people who have self-harmed/are in crisis or presenting with other mental health concerns; the treatment interventions provided would be based on NICE guidelines and evidence based practice.



Use individual, group work, family work, advice and supervision according to the needs of children and young people and have a flexible and innovative approach to packages of care.



Participate and lead in joint complex assessments with other disciplines and other agencies and provide reports for referrers, families and other agencies as required.



Maintain good relationships and clear lines of communication with other professional agencies and departments, providing specialist advice and support where appropriate.

Professional Conduct, Teaching, Training and Research



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



Work in accordance and within the principles, policies, procedures and guidelines of all aspects of clinical governance.



Attend monthly supervision and annual appraisal meetings make effective use of colleagues in sharing and participating in casework supervision and other forms of supervision when required according to local practice, including attending peer supervision meetings.



Identify development and training needs with manager in accordance with Trust/Directorate guidelines. Remain up to date with changing practices and wherever possible make full use of all training and educational facilities.



Join with colleagues in specialist teaching, consultation /support to other professionals and agencies. Participate in the provision of a good quality learning environment for trainees, overseeing placements and supervising trainees.



Participate in the monitoring, evaluation and audit of the service.



Work with others to undertake and promote research-based practice and use that knowledge in your everyday practice, sharing it with others in the team.



Work autonomously and participate in the delivery and development of patient centered, evidence based care as appropriate, using a range of advanced skills and knowledge for patients with both diagnosed and undiagnosed conditions.



Offer advice and support or refer/signpost to other agencies for specialist advice/support/service if appropriate.



Please see attached job specification for further details.