Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Specialist Mental Health Practitioner - Duty Worker

The closing date is 20 July 2025

Job summary

We are excited to be recruiting a fixed-term Band 7 Specialist Mental Health Practitioner to strengthen our countywide Duty offer within Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD).

This one-year pilot post offers an excellent opportunity for experienced mental health professionals to take on a clinical leadership role within our Duty system. As a senior member of the team, you will play a critical role in supporting locality mental health teams, holding oversight of urgent and unallocated concerns, and leading on clinical risk management and decision-making.

The post is countywide and will support children and young people experiencing emotional distress, relational difficulties, and emerging or ongoing mental health needs. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams, external agencies, and families to ensure that children and young people receive timely, safe, and effective mental health support. Elements of the role can be undertaken remotely, and we welcome flexible working arrangements.

As a Duty SMHP, you will be responsible for triaging incoming contacts, supporting clinical decision-making for complex cases, and offering advice and guidance to both internal and external professionals. You will also provide supervision and support to junior colleagues and play a key part in developing and shaping this evolving service.

Main duties of the job

Lead the clinical triage of urgent referrals and queries
Undertake and support comprehensive mental health risk assessments
Provide senior clinical input and oversight for unallocated or high-risk presentations
Offer consultation, advice and support to junior staff and external professionals
Contribute to service development and provide reflective feedback on process and system improvements
Maintain accurate and timely clinical documentation in accordance with professional and service standards
Model compassionate leadership, promoting inclusive and anti-discriminatory practice

Supervise junior clinicians, supporting their development and ensuring safe, evidence-based care

We Offer:

High-quality clinical supervision and ongoing professional development opportunities
A collaborative and supportive multidisciplinary environment
A leadership role in an innovative and responsive pilot service with potential for long-term impact

If you are a highly skilled and compassionate mental health professional with strong assessment and leadership skills, and are looking to play a senior role in shaping an essential service within CFHD, 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.

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.

Our vision is to be a successful, vibrant, partnership that benefits the communities we serve.

Date posted

04 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

1 years

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

C9369-25-0516

Job locations

Evergreen

Victoria Park Road

Exeter

EX2 4NU

Integrated Childrens Services

Fishleigh Road

Roundswell Business Park

Barnstaple

Devon

EX31 3UD

Lescaze Offices

Shinner's Bridge

Dartington

Totnes

TQ9 6JE

South Devon Healthcare

187 Newton Road

Torquay

TQ2 7BA

Job description

Job responsibilities

Full Vacancy details can be found on the attached Job Description/Person Specification. Please refer to your suitability to the post in your supporting information from the role requirements or person specification

Job description

Job responsibilities

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for in the area of childrens mental health, with the ability to work with complex needs and undertake risk assessments

Qualifications

Essential

Professional knowledge acquired through degree supplemented by specialist training or equivalent experience to Masters level with a relevant core professional training e.g. Psychological profession, Nursing, Clinical Psychology, Social Work, Occupational Therapy Training in an evidence-based therapeutic approach
Professional registration/accreditation with a recognised body, e.g. NMC, HCPC, Social Work England, UKCP, BABCP
Training in supervision and/or leadership skills or willing to work towards
Evidence of Continuous Professional Development

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Experience of working collaboratively with service users and their families/carers, including using goal-based care and routine outcome measures in practice.
Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies
Experience of undertaking specialist mental health assessment and therapeutic interventions for in the area of childrens mental health, with the ability to work with complex needs and undertake risk assessments

Qualifications

Essential

Professional knowledge acquired through degree supplemented by specialist training or equivalent experience to Masters level with a relevant core professional training e.g. Psychological profession, Nursing, Clinical Psychology, Social Work, Occupational Therapy Training in an evidence-based therapeutic approach
Professional registration/accreditation with a recognised body, e.g. NMC, HCPC, Social Work England, UKCP, BABCP
Training in supervision and/or leadership skills or willing to work towards
Evidence of Continuous Professional Development

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).