Specialist Mental Health Practitioner – Duty Worker: Sponsorship Available

Devon Partnership NHS Trust

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.

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).

Closing Date: 03 August 2025

To apply for this job please visit www.jobs.nhs.uk.