Job summary
Children and Family Health Devon is delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for a Head of Pathways Mental Health to join our senior leadership team. This strategic role provides leadership across all mental health services for children and young people in Devon and Torbay, including:
- Urgent Care (Crisis and Risk)
- Eating Disorder Service
- Mood, Emotions & Relationships (MERs previously CAMHS)
- Mental Health Support Teams / Childrens Wellbeing Practitioners
- Children in Care and Safeguarding
As part of a dynamic and ambitious leadership group, you will shape the future of mental health care for children, young people and families through compassionate leadership, strategic thinking, and inclusive service design.
This is a unique opportunity to lead meaningful transformation across a system-wide service committed to integrated working, innovation, and co-production.
Main duties of the job
- Provide visible, inclusive leadership across the mental health pathways.
- Lead strategic development, quality assurance, and performance oversight.
- Work collaboratively with clinical and operational leaders to deliver high-quality, safe and trauma-informed care.
- Drive transformational change aligned with theiThrive Framework.
- Build strong relationships with commissioners, education, social care, and voluntary sector partners.
- Support robust workforce planning, sustainability and governance.
- Promote participation and engagement from children, young people and families in service design.
We Offer:
- A high-impact leadership role in a multi-agency, countywide alliance service
- A culture of shared leadership and continuous learning
- Strong peer support and access to regional and national networks
- The chance to help shape the future of child and youth mental health in Devon
If you are an experienced, values-driven leader with a passion for childrens mental health, we would love to hear from you.
About us
Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon.
CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services, based on the i-Thrive Framework.
CFHD works closely with our local universities of Plymouth, Exeter & the Peninsula Medical School where we support students in clinical training placements and in addition support our own staff to undertake post graduate training.
Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.
Our children and young people say
We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The full job description and person specification can be found in the supporting information on this advert.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The full job description and person specification can be found in the supporting information on this advert.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Clinical or professional qualification and current regulatory registration relevant to service area plus extensive vocational knowledge and experience at a managerial level within a childrens service health setting, equivalent to a Masters level of qualification and expertise
- Management or leadership Training or significant proven experience of effective leadership and management at a senior level
Experience
Essential
- Significant experience of budgetary management
- Experience of driving and implementing effective change across multiple service areas
- Extensive proven experience of working at a managerial level within in a health and /or social care organisation
- Demonstrable experience of developing new business and actively seeking new business opportunities
- Experience of working in a leadership role
- Experience of managing services within multi-agency networks
- Experience of managing effective collaborations and partnerships in the delivery of care
- Experience of effective performance and financial management
- Experience of quality or service improvement
- Experience of using data to drive improvement
- Experience of managing organisational change
- Experience of managing a multi-disciplinary workforce
- Experience of service user participation and the use of feedback to drive improvement
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Essential
- Knowledge of national policy and operations across the NHS, Social Care and other sectors relating to children and young people services
- In depth understanding and demonstrable experience of proactive workforce planning and policy
- Understanding and experience of performance management
- Knowledge of business intelligence solutions to work within a performance framework
- Understanding of the management of change, innovation and quality improvement
- To provide interpretation and analysis of highly complex policy, guidance and legislation to ensure Best Practice and governance requirements are applied locally, responding appropriately to evidenced outcomes, in applying this to service development and delivery. This will need to be exercised across a complex joint agency context
- Ability to travel across Devon and attend meetings as required
- The post holder must demonstrate a positive commitment to uphold diversity and equality policies approved by NHS Devon/DCC
- To contribute to manager on-call as required
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Clinical or professional qualification and current regulatory registration relevant to service area plus extensive vocational knowledge and experience at a managerial level within a childrens service health setting, equivalent to a Masters level of qualification and expertise
- Management or leadership Training or significant proven experience of effective leadership and management at a senior level
Experience
Essential
- Significant experience of budgetary management
- Experience of driving and implementing effective change across multiple service areas
- Extensive proven experience of working at a managerial level within in a health and /or social care organisation
- Demonstrable experience of developing new business and actively seeking new business opportunities
- Experience of working in a leadership role
- Experience of managing services within multi-agency networks
- Experience of managing effective collaborations and partnerships in the delivery of care
- Experience of effective performance and financial management
- Experience of quality or service improvement
- Experience of using data to drive improvement
- Experience of managing organisational change
- Experience of managing a multi-disciplinary workforce
- Experience of service user participation and the use of feedback to drive improvement
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Essential
- Knowledge of national policy and operations across the NHS, Social Care and other sectors relating to children and young people services
- In depth understanding and demonstrable experience of proactive workforce planning and policy
- Understanding and experience of performance management
- Knowledge of business intelligence solutions to work within a performance framework
- Understanding of the management of change, innovation and quality improvement
- To provide interpretation and analysis of highly complex policy, guidance and legislation to ensure Best Practice and governance requirements are applied locally, responding appropriately to evidenced outcomes, in applying this to service development and delivery. This will need to be exercised across a complex joint agency context
- Ability to travel across Devon and attend meetings as required
- The post holder must demonstrate a positive commitment to uphold diversity and equality policies approved by NHS Devon/DCC
- To contribute to manager on-call as required
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
