Specialist Mental Health Practitioner (Urgent Care) – CFHD

Overview

In this role you will deliver expert mental health assessment and intervention for children and young people with complex needs within the Urgent Care Pathway. You will provide clinical leadership, supervise and support colleagues, and collaborate across services to drive service development and quality improvement. The position involves seven-day availability and travel across Devon, contributing to innovative models of care and cross-agency partnerships. You will work in a dynamic team to reduce distress and improve outcomes for children and families.

Responsibilities

• Provide complex clinical assessments and formulate care plans for children and young people with high-risk mental health needs.
• Lead clinical meetings and ensure accurate record keeping and clear communication across MDTs and partner agencies.
• Offer supervision, reflective practice, and support to staff to enable evidence-based care.
• Coordinate and chair multi-professional and inter-agency meetings.
• Manage high levels of distress and emotional risk with empathy, resilience and sensitive communication.
• Present complex information clearly to diverse audiences and adapt communication to needs of children, families and professionals.
• Support clinical leadership and service development, quality improvement, and innovative care models.
• Travel across Devon to fulfill countywide responsibilities and participate in extended-hours rota.

Key requirements

• Experience of working with children and young people with mental health needs and risk assessment.
• Experience in safeguarding and inter-agency partnership work.
• Experience in providing specialist assessments and interventions for complex cases with high emotional demand.
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary and cross-agency environment and contribute to meetings.
• Experience in teaching, training, or supervision of other professionals.
• Enhanced DBS check required; ability to travel across Devon; willingness to work extended hours.

• Empathy and compassionate communication
• Resilience under pressure
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills
• Risk assessment for high-risk presentations
• Evidence-based therapeutic approaches
• Use of routine outcome measures in practice

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