CAMHS Practitioner | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Southwark Assertive Outreach Service (CAMHS) is seeking to recruit an innovative CAMHS practitioner with developed clinical skills to work in its multi-disciplinary Adolescent Team (MDT), in order to cover a secondment in the service.

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

The post holder will work as a specialist clinician in Southwark Assertive Outreach Team to meet the needs of adolescents up to age 18 with complex mental health problems who will require urgent assessment and stepped up interventions (e.g. 7 day follow-up, crisis management support and at times treatment in their own home or community).

Service and team responsibilities

You will carry out mental health & risk assessments with adolescents in your care and work under the supervision of the team managers and senior clinicians to manage these situations effectively.

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

The post holder will work to provide rapid response and intervention for patients in crisis.

As a CAMHS practitioner in the Assertive Outreach 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.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust(SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services. Working closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. Our scope is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training

We have a comprehensive benefits package on offer

• 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 offers 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.

Core Duties

To provide timely assessments and treatment aimed at reducing the number of A&E presentations, minimising the re-presentation at A&E and other barriers to engagement.

To participate in the Assertive Outreach team as a multi-disciplinary team member in the setting and reviewing of care plans, therapeutic aims, and to provide a high standard of care to clients.

To have a flexible and innovative approach and the treatment interventions provided would draw on NICE guidelines and evidence-based practice and utilise routine outcome measures.

Ensure that all recordings and reporting of client contact are accurate, up to date, of good quality and professional requirement standards of record keeping.

Work with the teams and clients to maintain a safe therapeutic environment, and 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 attend monthly supervision and twice-yearly appraisal meetings. To 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.

To maintain and ensure good professional standards in the care and treatment of young people and their families. To undertake all duties in line with the professional Codes of Professional Conduct, policies and guidelines and CAMHS governance standards. To maintain professional registration requirements for the post according to discipline/profession

To have strong links with other practitioners working in the wider Southwark CAMHS

To 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.

Communication

To work with cultural humility

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

Ability to promote partnership working between Primary and Secondary care, Local Authority, Voluntary and Statutory agencies, and the independent sector

Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with patients, relatives and carers, where there may be barriers to understanding. Ability to deal effectively with patient or carer concerns, complaints and anxieties as they arise

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

Individual Clinical

Assume responsibility for own case list and case management of adolescents, families with contextual risk, and developing appropriate risk formulations

Make a clinical formulation from a standard assessment, including risk assessment, on which to recommend a treatment intervention. Design, write and share a copy of the care plan with young people and where appropriate with their carers

Assess safeguarding issues and where appropriate make referrals to Child Protection teams

Deliver evidence based interventions in accordance with NICE guidelines and adapted to the needs of adolescents

Use individual, group work, family work, advice and supervision according to the needs of 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

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 (individual and or group/ peer supervision) and annual appraisal meetings.

Remain up to date with changing practices and wherever possible make full use of all training and educational facilities

Participate in the monitoring, and contribute to evaluation and audit of the service

To work and participate in the delivery and development of patient centered, evidence based care as appropriate, using a range of skills and knowledgefor patients with both diagnosed and undiagnosed conditions

To assess patients and offer advice and support or refer/signpost to other agencies for specialist advice/support/service if appropriate

To communicate effectively with young people, their families, the MDT and wider professional networks. They will also clearly document assessments and subsequent shared decision-making.

This advert closes on Wednesday 6 May 2026