Child and Family Social Worker in CAMHS | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust

Our inpatient CAMHS General Adolescent Unit is a 10 bed ward.If you are a Social Worker looking to gain experience within a CAMHS setting, we would love to hear from you!

As a Social Worker you will be enthusiastic and motivated to deliver high quality care to young people aged 13-18 years old. You will have an understanding of child and adolescent mental health, experience of working within an MDT, a good understanding of complex mental health, attachment and trauma issues for children and young people. You will ensure patient safety, effective care and treatment, and be supportive in the children and young people’s development with learning opportunities.

We provide in depth on-going inductions, invest in personal training programmes, encouraging and supporting all staff throughout their career, to grow and develop. Our staff also have access to some of the leading research programmes in mental health and, whatever your role, there are opportunities to develop skills and clinical practice by being part of ground-breaking work.

The Social Worker role is a part time post of 15 hours hours Monday to Friday. This can be discussed at interview stage.

Employment in this post requires an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which the Trust will cover the cost of. Applicants who subscribe to the DBS update service are able to present a valid DBS certificate instead of requiring a new check.

In Dorset, we are transforming our child and adolescent mental health service into a Family Mental Health model that embraces and adopts the Thrive framework. The inpatient service falls within the Getting More Help and Getting Risk Support quadrants of Thrive.

You will use professional skills, knowledge and experience plus a range of interpersonal and communication skills to gather information in order to make a full assessment of risk, protection and social care needs of individuals and family/carers.

You will work closely with families, some of whom will have a high level of complexity and need and/or be difficult to engage, to support engagement and relationship building, and facilitate co-ordination with external agencies where partnership working is needed.

There will be a strong sense of “team” and staff have been empowered to be innovative and implement their ideas on the ward. We have a values-based approach and welcome applications from candidates who will role model the trust’s core values.

You will be required to undertake a Prevention and Management of Violence and Aggression course, and it is a condition of your employment that you successfully complete all aspects of this course; if this is not achieved you will not be able to commence working in the post.

At Dorset HealthCare we’re on a mission to empower people to make the most of their lives through our outstanding, joined-up healthcare services. We’re a dynamic, forward-looking Trust, running 12 community hospitals, specialist inpatient facilities and a wide range of integrated community and mental health services for a population of almost 800,000 people.

We do things differently here – it’s one of the reasons the CQC rated us ‘outstanding’ in 2019. It’s also why 95% of patients across our services say they have a good or very good experience of our services and 89% of staff feel they can really make a difference. Whether you’re looking to work with us in one of our bustling market towns, vibrant urban locations, thriving seaside spots, or among the rolling hills of Dorset, there are lots of ways you can make a difference in our communities.

Our 7,000-strong workforce is at the heart of what we do and our success is a testament to our brilliant people. We're all about building a workplace for the future, we believe in equal opportunities and we celebrate diversity. We’re an inclusive workplace, where everyone is welcome, everyone can be authentic, and we are all encouraged to be the best version of ourselves.

Working with us you’ll be part of a strong team, challenge yourself, build a career, and teach us what we don’t know. And you’ll be working towards our vision to be better every day through excellence, compassion and expertise in all we do.

For the main duties and responsibilities for this role please read the attached job description and person specification. When completing your application please ensure your supporting statement reflects the criteria set out in these documents by showing how your experience and skills apply to this post.

We understand that AI can be a useful tool when completing your application. However, we are seeing an increasing over-reliance of AI tools, which can negatively affect your application as it reduces a candidate’s individuality, and makes it difficult for us to gain a clear and authentic understanding of your experience, skills, and in turn your suitability for the role.

All submissions must be truthful and if you do use AI, it should only be used to enhance your application and not create your supporting statement in its entirety. Your supporting statement should be in your own words and must accurately reflect your personal experience and achievements. Where we have concerns that AI has been used to generate content that misrepresents your experience and suitability for the role, we may withdraw your application.

As part of our vision to have a skilled, diverse and caring workforce, Dorset HealthCare offers support for people getting into work. We offer an employability service to support individuals with application writing, interview skills and other employment support. If you would like or know of anyone who would value this support, please do contactdhc.wideningparticipation@nhs.net

Please note visa sponsorship for this role is unfortunately not available. Please ensure you hold valid right to work in the UK and will not require sponsorship if successful.

This advert closes on Thursday 30 Jul 2026